Here To Stay
by gillyflower34
Summary: The sequel to Gone For Good. The group arrives at the Alexandria safe zone. They begin trying to live a normal life after the horrors they have encountered. Rick is convinced he must protect the group, especially his girlfrend Beth, at all costs. RickyJo finds she still has a difficult choice to make. Rated M for eventual sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

Alexandria

Judith was sitting on her lap, content with being held while MJ prowled the room looking for things to destroy. He had wiggled down, and made it for a decorative vase sitting on a table with flowers in it. The flowers had gone flying and the water he dumped on the table, happily spashing away. RickyJo had apologized to the woman profusely. They had been out on the road so long, its all the small boy knew. Keeping him alive and safe had been the priority, teaching him manners had not. After growing bored with his water mess, MJ toddled over to a book shelf. His hair was getting long and RickyJo had tied it up in a little ponytail, which bobbed as he walked. He pulled at one of the books, finding that it fell to to floor making a loud bang, he clapped his hands in delight. Then he started pulling each book out, letting it fall to the floor. Deanna could see that the boys' mother was ready to get up and stop him.

"Its quite all right," Deanna assured the woman, "I haven't seen a baby in such a long time. Just let him have his fun." RickyJo turned to be sure the woman meant it and wasn't just being nice. She could see Deanna was watching her son with a soft wistful look and a smile on her face. RickyJo guessed maybe the woman was thinking about her own sons when they had been that age. MJ was cute, espeecially the curious look on his little face. It struck RickyJo suddenly that the reason her son was so excited to touch everything was that he had never been in a real house before. Sure they had taken shelter in a few abandoned homes, but none of those had been nice and clean like this one. And thinking of that, she shifted nervously in her chair. The house was so clean it made RickyJo notice how dirty she was. Her hair was greasy, and her fingernails were dirty. She couldn't remember the last time she had washed her clothes. Her boots were muddy and she hadd worn them in, walking across this woman's clean floors with them on.

"I can tell you are nervous," Deanna told the woman, "why don't you start by telling me why." RickyJo sat quietly for a moment. She was trying to decide if she should make up a lie or tell this woman the truth.

"The last time I got taken into a new camp," RickyJo explained, "they were really nice to me, just like you all are. Then they took me into a room where they were butchering up other people to eat them. And they said if I didn't want to join them they were going to eat me and my baby." Deanna was speechless. She had heard a lot of terrible things, but that one took the cake and the icing.

"You were by yourself then?," she asked once she had recovered. RickyJo shook her head.

"I was with my baby's father," she said.

"Thats Merle?," Deanna asked, "the one with the missing hand?" RickyJo nodded. Deanna didn't say anything about it, but she found it interesting that this woman was referring to Merle as her baby's father. When Deanna had talked to him, he had been calling her his wife. She wondered about the status of the relationship. After all this woman was beautiful and kind enough to take care of a baby that wasn't her own. And Deanna had two single sons.

RickyJo looked down, smoothing the back of Judith's hair. She really hoped Deanna wasn't going to ask her about why they had left the group. She didn't want to get into all that. Mostly she just wanted to forget it. Deanna didn't ask about that, she had already heard the story in different variations from the other people she had talked to. She knew this woman had been through a terrible ordeal. Deanna was more interested in the other things she had heard about this woman. Things that could be a huge asset to her and the people she was responsible for.

"I heard you know a few things about gardening," Deanna said. She could see the woman let her breath out in a sigh of relief. Growing plants was something RickyJo would be happy to discuss. In fact she had a few things she wanted to say to Deanna about it. Things she had noticed as soon as they entered the community. RickyJo wasn't sure how much to say right now, she didn't want to insult the woman by suggesting she was doing anything wrong,

"Can I be blunt with you?," she asked Deanna. Deanna smiled.

"Of course," she answered.

"You are growing a lot of grass here and not enough plants," RickyJo started. "People can keep going on runs, but eventually all the stores in the surounding area will be cleared out. I would start planting now, or people are going to starve later."

"We do have gardens that you haven't seen yet," Deanna told her. She liked what the woman had said. RickyJo was already taking active interest in the well being of the community and those were the kind of people she needed here.

"Is it a quarter acre per person worth of gardens?," RickyJo asked. Deanna shook her head. She doubted they even had one quarter acre of plants total. "Then its not enough," RickyJo told her. She was nervously watching the older woman for her reaction. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything, even if it was the truth. Deanna stood up and held out her hand to RickyJo. After shifting baby Judith around, RickyJo stood so she could shake it.

"Welcome to the Alexandria Safe Zone," Deanna told her with a big smile, "I have the perfect job for you."


	2. Chapter 2

Jessica

After she left the campground, Jessica tried her hardest not to pick up her phone and call Daryl. Her resolve lasted about five whole minutes before she had him on the phone calling him every dirty name she could think of. He hung up, so she called him back and left some more insults on his voice mail. She had could not remember the last time she had gotten this mad at a man.

"Mommy," her younger daughter Desiree asked her from the backseat, "what's a stupid bastard." Jessica swore again under her breath. Now she owed like twenty quarters to the swear jar. She had been trying to stop swearing in front of her daughters after the school called her and let her know that her daughter had been using some of her more choice words in class. Cassie was laughing.

"Its just a mean name to call someone," Cassie told her sister.

"Then why were you saying it to Uncle Daryl?," Desiree asked. She loved both her uncles, but Daryl was her favorite. He went with her Aunt Ricky to take them to the zoo. And when she was scared to go in with the petting zoo goats, he had grabbed them by the horns and dragged them over so she could pet them through the fence. Jessica sighed.

"I am just mad at Uncle Daryl because he wasn't being very nice to your Aunt Ricky," Jessica explained, hoping that would end the conversation. Of course with Des answers always just led to more questions.

"Why was he being mean to Aunt Ricky?," Desiree asked. Jessica loved her daughters, but sometimes they made her want to tear her hair out.

"Why don't you ask him next time you see him," Jessica suggested to the girl. This seemed to satisfy the girl for now, although there would probably be more questions later. Jessica watched her in the rearview mirror to make sure she had gone back to playing with her toys. Cassie was playing a video game on her phone. Her father had said he thought she was too young for a phone, so Jessica had made sure to go out and buy her one right away. That dick had never paid a dime of child support and then he wanted to come around with his new wife and new baby and try to act all high and mighty, telling her how to raise the girls he barely knew. Nope. Thanks for playing. Try again next time.

They were off again anyway, she had been sleeping with him again for a while when he first got married to his wife, but after she found out the woman was pregnant she had cut things off again. There were certain things that even she didn't do. And to think that asshole had been telling her he was leaving his wife for her. And then he had been going home and knocking her up. Well next time the only thing he was sticking in her was a fork, 'cause she was done. She had been a little insulted, but since she never invested much emotion in any man, she wasn't really that upset.

The traffic on the highway was really backed up, so she got off to take the back way home. She saw the accident that had caused the backup on her way. It looked like someone was going nuts on the side of the road and other people were trying to hold them down. Meth is bad for you, she thought with a laugh. Just ask Merle's crazy girlfriend. That bitch had looked at least twenty years older than she actually was. And Jessica was fairly sure that's where she had gotten the clap, even though a certain someone had tried telling her she must have got it from someone else and then given it to him. That made her laugh a little. It had not been funny at the time, but it was funny now. After that she had made him wrap it up for a while.

And RickyJo was alone with him, camping. Jessica wasn't sure if it was best to leave them alone together, but she had decided it was moderately better than leaving RickyJo alone. At least she wouldn't get hurt if Merle was with her. And maybe Daryl would be more likely to go if his brother was there. It was just that RickyJo seemed so sad. She had not seen her that sad in a long long time. Probably since Nana had been diagnosed with cancer. And sometimes when people were upset, they did things they normally wouldn't do. Just ask her, Jessica was the queen of bad decision making.

After the long drive back home, Jessica sent her girls to shower up and put their things away or in the laundry. Then she had a million work emails to go through. She had to call her assistant manager about a few of them. Then she got in the shower herself. After bathing in the campground facilities or washing up in the creek, the water felt good and she found herself under the warm spray with her hand between her legs thinking about what happened the night before. RickyJo had gone to bed in the camper with the girls and she had stayed up with Merle, laughing and drinking. Then they had gone down and skinny dipped in the creek and had a fuck in the grass. She was pretty sure thats where she had gotten most of the bug bites she had, but it had been totally worth it.

When she was done, Jessica washed the conditioner out of her hair and turned the water off. She put on her robe and wrapped her hair up in a towel. Heading in to check on her girls she saw they were on the computer. She could hear a lot of screaming coming from whatever they were watching.

"What is that?," she asked. Cassie better not be showing her sister things that she knew would give her nightmares again.

"Its all over YouTube," Cassie said, "it says the video is from South America." Jessica shooed them out of the way and sat down, then started the video over. Both girls hung over her shoulders to watch it again. There were people screaming and running. One man was biting another man until he started bleeding everywhere. You could see the curtians, so the video was obviously being taken by someone who was hiding inside. One man wandered into view looking bloody and terrible. He fell and looked like he was dying. He was bleeding a lot. Then he got back up and ran straight for the window, smashing through it with his face. There was a ton of screaming and then the video turned off.

"Online people are saying its the end of the world, that people are coming back from the dead," Cassie informed her mother.

"Online people are idiots," Jessica told her daughters, "its just a stupid hoax. A bunch of film students probably made it." Then she turned to Desiree. "Its not real," she told her. And then to Cassie she said, "stop showing stuff like that to your sister." Both girls nodded, although the younger one still looked scared, so Jessica pulled her into her lap and held her, kissing her head and stroking her hair.

After she tucked her girls into bed, Jessica lay awake in her own bed. She had told the girls she knew the video was fake, but it had looked plenty real to her. Well, whatever it was, it was far away in another country, so it should be nothing she needed to worry about. Or thats what she told herself so she could sleep that night.


	3. Chapter 3

Alexandria

To say that the house they were staying in was nice would be the understatement of the century. It would have been nice even by before the outbreak standards. But now that she had a prison cell, the back of a van, on the ground outside and that horrible concrete room at terminus to compare it to, this house looked like an freaking palace. Of course MJ was already down and trashing the place. Since trying to teach him any manners sounded like a thankless task, RickyJo guessed she was going to have start putting things up out of his reach. That would work for few months until he figured out how to climb. And nevermind, he was already on top of the table, kicking all the chairs over backwards. RickyJo picked him up, setting him down on the floor and picking the chairs up. By the time she got done with that, she heard a loud crash from the kitchen and walked in there to find he had pulled out a drawer of silverwear and dumped the whole thing on the floor. He was looking very pleased with himself and the mess he had made.

"No more mess," she told him, taking his hand and giving it a gentle smack. He looked at her and then at his hand like he wasn't sure what had just happened. Then he really started letting go. He was screaming so loud he soon had everyone rushing into the kitchen, thinking he was being murdered. Beth picked him up and hugged him. He stopped yelling and then started trying to reach down her shirt and grab at her breasts. He preferred his mother but in a pinch any boobs would suit him fine.

"I think hes hungry," Beth said, holding his hands to keep from being molested further, "I can clean that up." RickyJo smiled gratefully and took her son into the living room, sitting down with him on the couch and pulling her shirt down to feed him. Abraham was watching the kid. His wife had breastfed both their children but neither of them had been quite so ferocious. He sat down on the couch next to them.

"Got assigned to the construction crew," he said to RickyJo, "whats your job?"

"Head milking cow," she quipped. He laughed. He liked RickyJo, she was always nice to everyone and she was funny too. He also knew she had known the truth about Eugene from the moment she met him, and had been kind enough no to call him out on it. "How 'bout you Rosita?," she asked. Rosita leaned against the doorframe striking an overly sexy pose.

"I'm the new Victoria's Secret cover model," she announced. Beth came in from cleaning up the kitchen mess and saw Rosita blowing kisses and acting silly.

"What job did you get?," Abraham asked Beth.

"Helping RickyJo with the gardens," she said.

"But there aren't any gardens," Rosita said.

"Thats why I need help," RickyJo told her. This set them all off laughing again. There were a few gardens out towards the back of the place, but no one was offically assigned to take care of them. Mostly Olivia worked on them when she got a chance. And from the sorry state of them, RickyJo guessed that wasn't very often. She had gotten a blank card from Deanna to dig up as much grass as she wanted and her idea was to put a small garden in everyone's yard that they would be responsible for and then expand the larger garden in the back. It was going to be a shit ton of work, but she actually found herself looking forward to it. Anything to take her mind off everything that had happened was a welcome task.

The front door banged shut and Rick came in with Glen and Merle. They had been out with Daryl, walking the perimeter to make sure the wall was sturdy and everyone would be safe. RickyJo wanted to know where Daryl had gone, but she didn't want to ask in front of Merle so she leaned back and took a peek out the window. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. First she pounded on the window and then she got up and headed for the front door, hauling MJ with her.

"Get down off the porch with that nasty thing," she yelled at Daryl, "you are getting possum guts everywhere." Daryl turned and started arguing with her but she was having none of it. This place was nice and she didn't want her new front porch smelling like dirty dead possum. "Go down in the fucking grass and do that! What the hell Daryl!" Daryl mumbled a few curses under his breath and went down in the grass, while RickyJo charged into the kitchen to fill a large glass with water. She took it back on the porch and rinsed away the nasty bloody mess with it. Deanna already said she was sending someone over with dinner for them tonight, so what was he doing with that nasty thing anyway. Sometimes he really acted like he had no manners at all.

Merle was watching the scene with more than a little satisfaction. Anytime RickyJo got mad at Daryl was a good time for him. And she had really been giving him the business this time too. MJ decided he had enough for now, and detached himself from his mother, reaching for Merle. She handed him over and adjusted her shirt.

"Pick out a room yet?," he asked her. RickyJo smiled. He had pulled her close and whispered in her ear before they left to go check the wall. _Go pick out a room, get the one with the biggest bed._

"Maybe," she said. He bobbed his head towards the stairs. She shook hers. No way was anyone doing anything in that nice clean bed until they had a proper shower. It had clean sheets on it and everything.

"At least show me the room," he told her.

"Okay, but then I am giving this dirty baby a bath, not playing around with you," she told him firmly. As they headed the stairs together, Beth could hear Merle suggesting to her friend that maybe he was the one that needed to be bathed. She smiled and wrapped her arms around Rick. He had been saying that they should all stay down in the living room together tonight, in case anything happened, but Beth had other plans. She knew he was worried, but they hadn't had any privacy in such a long time. And she wasn't really a big fan of getting it on where everyone could see her. She pulled him down to kiss him.

"I picked out a room too," she whispered into his ear. He meant to respond, but was interupted by the rest of the group coming back. Sammie, Carol, Eugene, Carl, Noah, Sasha, Bob and Michonne had been next door looking at the other house. Rick noticed right away that Glen and Maggie were missing. The preacher guy was missing too, but someone had taken him over to the chapel they were setting up for him. Sammie and Carl were holding hands. They had been doing that a lot lately. Rick guessed now that everyone had more room and a lot more privacy, they were going to be doing more than hand hold soon enough. Maybe he ought to have some kind of talk with them.

"Glen and Maggie?," he asked.

"They stayed at the other house," Eugene said.

"Yeah to try out the shower I think," Tara said. She smiled. If she had anyone willing to shower with her, she would be doing the same. Too bad the shower buddy she had in mind was already spoken for. As soon as they met she had been interested in RickyJo, and she had a feeling the attraction was mutual. However, she also knew the woman already had a complicated mess to deal with when it came to her personal life and Tara had didn't want to make things worse for her. For now they were just friends.

Rick heard crying coming from upstairs and went up to make sure everything was okay. RickyJo had both the babies in the bathtub and Judith was crying. RickyJo was washing her hair. And not doing a very good job at it either, from what he could see. The water and soap were running down all over her face. Rick smiled. It reminded him of Lori when Carl had been first born. There was a learning curve to bathing a baby.

"Here, like this," he told her. Then he picked up Judith and held her in a towel, supporting her neck and suspending her over the tub. Now RickyJo could get a good scrub on the baby's dirty head without getting her face wet. Once she was clean and rinsed, Rick set her on the floor in her towel and picked up MJ so she could do the same to him. While he was holding the baby, Rick noticed his whole side started feeling suspiciously warm and wet.

"I think he just peed on me," he said. Rick could swear that kid knew what he was doing too. RickyJo apologized through her laughter.

"You can have the shower next," she told him. She took both of the now squeaky clean babies back to her room to dress them. Rick shut the door and turned on the shower. Before he got in he took a look at himself in the mirror. He had never seen himself with a full beard. And this beard was much more grey than he had expected. It was a wonder Beth still liked him, he looked so old like this. In the bathroom cabinet he found some electric clippers and a razor and he went to work on himself.

RickyJo got the babies to sleep and put them carefully in the playpen she had set up for them when she heard the shower turn off. The room she was in had its own bathroom, but it only had a standing shower, not a bathtub. She shut the door to the bedroom and opened the bathroom door. A wave of steam came out, making her step back.

"You leave me any hot water," she asked. She couldn't remember the last time she had a proper shower. Even back at the prison they had not had a water heater. So she guessed it was back at Hershel's farm. She had still been pregnant with MJ then, which meant it had been more than a year ago. Merle came out in a towel.

"It was still hot when I got out," he told her. She reached up and touched his hair. When it got long it got crazy curly. She would cut it if she had too, but that meant a real hack job. Maybe Rosita could do it, she did a good job on Abraham's hair. Or who knows, maybe this place had a barber shop.

RickyJo went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. First, she took her braids out and combed her hair. It had been in the braids so long it was coming out in handfuls. She tried to get most of it into the trash can. Then she took a deep breath before undressing as quickly as possible. Sometimes taking her clothes off still made her hands shake a little, but it was getting better. She turned on the water and stepped into the shower. So much dirt was coming off her, it was turning the water at her feet muddy brown. She had to soap and rinse her hair three times before it lathered. Then she got a razor and shaved. It was going to feel so good to finally be clean after all this time. When she had enough of the water, she turned it off and got out. Then she brushed her teeth and then brushed them again because it felt so good. Finding a pair of nail clippers in the cabinet, she sat down wrapped in her towel and cut all her nails. Most of them were dirty underneath so it was nice to get rid of them. Then she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror.

She had purposely avoided looking at herself since her face had been cut up. Now she could see the scars were not as bad as she had imagined. The last time she had seen them they had been fresh and bloody. That was what she had been picturing in her mind all this time, thinking of her face as some kind of scary joker mask. But these were not bad at all. Just two faint pink lines across each cheek. She could hardly even feel anything there. She looked a little older and thinner than she remembered, but mostly the girl in the mirror looked like her.

A wave of dizzyness passed through her and she sat down on th toilet lid, hugging her towel around her. So much had happened that she had been trying to avoid thinking about. Everyone finding out that Eugene was lying about the cure, even though she had known that all along. Finally making it back home and finding the place destroyed and everyone dead. Then trying for Noah's home and finding it in the same condition. Losing Tyreese. Then Hershel dying of a stroke while everyone slept by the fire. Plus terminus, it made her sick to think about that place. Really sick.

Merle was lying on the bed when her heard RickyJo crying in the bathroom. She had her head in her hands when she felt herself lifted into the air and carried into the bedroom. Merle sat back down on the bed, holding her in his lap. He wasn't sure why she was crying but he could guess. When they had finally gotten to her grandmother's farm, the place had been destroyed. The buildings had been burnt down, the wall had been blasted in and everyone was either long gone or dead. She had taken it hard. He had not realized until then how much hope she had been holding onto. How she could have believed that her family was still home safe after everything they had seen, he had no idea.

They had stayed the night in her grandfather's old hunting cabin out in the woods. In the morning she had refused to leave. Daryl had to go upstairs to talk to her. They stayed up there a while and then come down together and she had been ready to leave. They had been acting funny with each other ever since. RickyJo felt herself pulled hard against Merle's chest, so tight she almost couldn't breathe. Then he loosened his grip and rubbed her back. She was actually feeling a lot better now. Maybe she had just needed to get that out of her. She climbed up out of Merle's lap and hung her wet towel up on the hook that was on the bathroom door.

He let his eyes roam over her naked body for a moment, and then Merle was up and pulling her into his arms. She smelled like soap and tasted like mint from the toothpaste. RickyJo closed her eyes and kissed him back, letting him pull her back towards the bed. He was feeling her legs, which were soft and smooth from being freshly shaved. Then he was on top of her, parting her lips with his tounge as he pushed inside her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on to his shoulders. As long as it had been since they had been together and as hard and fast as he was moving, she guessed he wasn't going to be in her for long. Then he was moaning into her mouth and she knew it was over.

"Fucking hell, sorry," he was mumbling to her. She leaned over to kiss him. He didn't have anything he needed to be sorry for. She was glad he still found her that attractive, it made her feel good. And she had no problem finishing herself off. Rolling away from him onto her back, she let her legs fall open and moved her hand between them. It didn't take her long before she felt her orgasm washing over her. When you were on the road with a dozen other people, you learned to get your private business done fast.

"That was hot," Merle told her, "since when did you start doing that."

"Since forever I just usually wait until you're asleep," she said. Now he was laughing at her. If he knew he was missing the show he would have stayed awake.

Everyone had gone to do some more exploring, except Beth, who stayed behind to wait for Rick. She had already washed up and was wearing new clean clothes. When she saw him come down the stairs she had to blink her eyes a few times to make sure it was really him. She hadn't really liked it, but she had gotten used to to seeing him with his big beard. Beth had forgotten how handsome he was under all that hair.

Beth's eyes had flown open when she saw him and now she was standing there staring. He was enjoying her reaction. While she hadn't thought much about it, Rick had noticed there were quite a few single men here that were a lot closer to her age than he was. He was happy to see she still found him attractive. He had figured out which room she picked upstairs since her stuff had been sitting on the bed. It was the room right next to RickyJo and he guessed that Beth had closen it so she could be close in case the other woman wanted help with the babies. It was like Beth to always be thinking of others. When she recovered from the shock of his appearance, she rushed into Rick's arms so she could feel his face with the tips of her fingers and rub her cheeks against his. Then she took his hand and pulled him back up the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

Jessica

Jessica and her family were not in as bad of a position as a lot of people were. They had high walls, solar power, clean water and plenty of food. Jessica thought a lot about how RickyJo had insisted on putting in all those solar panels and how expensive they were and how big of a waste Jessica had told her it was. Now she felt stupid. And wrong. And it made her miss her cousin something terrible. RickyJo had been the dependable one. She had been the one in the family everyone turned to when a hard decision needed to be made. And now she was gone. Maybe Merle and Daryl found her and maybe they didn't. Or maybe they were all dead. Either way none of them were here, so it was all up to Jessica now. She had her grandmother and her two young children to worry about and no one to turn to for help.

She sat staring at the empty pill bottles, turning them around in her hands like they might automatically fill themselves. Her nana had started cutting her pills in half when they realized they might not be able to get any more, but now they were all gone. And Desiree was down to the last few puffs on her asthma inhaler. Jessica was going to have to go out, and she was going to have to go out alone. At first she had thought about taking Cassie with her. Her older daughter was a good shot, maybe better than her. RickyJo used to take the girls out shooting and hunting all the time. They had learned a lot from her. But if she took Cassie, that would leave Nana and Desiree here alone. And that didn't feel right. She wanted Cassie here in case something happened while she was gone.

Jessica loaded up with every kind of weapon that she thought she could carry. She also took an empty backpack and a bottle of water. She took out one of the smallest and quietest motorcycles they had. It would take less gas and if the roads were blocked, she could get around the cars with it. Cassie rode with her down to the end of the driveway, hugging her mother tightly around the waist. While her sister was too young to understand what was going on, Cassie knew her mother was risking her life to go out for the medicine. When they got to the end of the drive, Cassie climbed off and latched the gate after her mother had gone through. She watched her drive away with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Then she walked back up to the main house to keep an eye on things until her mother got back.

There was a smaller local pharmacy Jessica was going to try first. If that was a bust she was going to Walmart. Fucking Walmart, she thought, better not have to go there because I hate that place. There was no one around at the smaller store. She found asthma inhalers there for Desiree, but none of her Nana's medications. One of them was a painkiller for her athritis and Jess had a feeling that was going to be hard to come by. The first thing people looked for to steal from a pharmacy was narcotics.

She headed back out of the store and got a little fright when she saw someone was milling around by her bike. At first she was scared the person might be trying to steal it. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest she could her it in her ears. Then the man turned. One of his eyes was hanging out of the socket, dangling by the cord and swinging around. She breathed a small sigh of relief. It was just one of those sick rabies people. On the tv it said to hit them in the head to stop them, so Jessica got her bat out of the side pocket of her pack. She stepped on a leaf, making a crunching noise, and the thing started coming at her. Trying to control her breathing, she made herself wait until it was close enough and then swung as hard as she could at its head.

The side of the monsters head smooshed in with a sickening crunch and it fell to the ground. Jessica poked at it a little with the toe of her boot. It was wearing the last few shreads of what have once might been a shirt. Part of the flesh on its side was missing and she could see most of its ribs. Rabies my ass, she thought, that thing is back from the damn dead, just like they were saying on those crazy internet videos. It even smelled dead, like three day old road kill or that squirrel that died up in the heat vent and stunk the whole house up. RickyJo had been ready to call a company out to clean it out of the vents, but Daryl would have none of that. He fished the nasty stinking thing out himself and then chased RickyJo around the house with it. They had been screaming and laughing. Cassie had been yelling for him to get her and little Desiree had been crying for him to stop, making Cassie laugh harder. It was nice to think about RickyJo, but Jessica shoved the memories down. She needed to stay focused. Firing her bike back up, Jessica headed for Walmart.

They were hiding in the trees on the edge of the parking lot when the woman pulled in. She was alone, which was good. But groups often sent someone in first to check for safety. They would wait and watch a while longer before they grabbed her. The tall man looked to his left, where a man with greasy hair was scratching at his head again. He was sure the man had fleas or lice or some kind of bugs and had to fight the urge to move away from him. They were all a little dirty since fresh water for washing wasn't always available now, but that guy never washed even when he had the chance. It was making him itchy just to look at the man.

Jessica took a look around the parking lot. There were some abandoned cars and a few of those dead/sick people wandering around. But no one else. She felt a shiver go up her back. The strange feeling that she was being watched came over her. She took a better look around and still didn't see anyone. Just get in get out and get this done quick, she told herself. Taking a deep breath, she headed inside the store, stepping over items that were thrown about and trying to be as quiet as she could. Those dead people may be stupid, but from the one she had seen outside the other store, she knew they responded to noise. _Where is the pharmacy in this goddamn dump?_ She tried to look up at the signs, and finally she saw one that said pharmacy, with an arrow. She headed that way.

A bunch of the smelly dead people were milling around in front of the pharmacy area. The metal shade was still down, which was promising. If it was up, the place would probably be empty. Jessica grabbed an empty can of corn from the floor and chucked it over the tops of the aisles as far as she could. It landed with a clatter and the monsters all perked up, heading towards the noise. Jessica smiled. She could kill them, but she would rather if she didn't have to risk getting too close to them. She knew on tv they said the sickness was transmitted by a bite from an infected person, but she was still worried she might get sick if she got too close or touched one. Sometimes viruses mutated. And these things looked like some nasty mutants.

The door to the pharmacy was around the side, down a little dark hallway. There was a naked dead person lying in the way. It looked like a woman. Jessica kicked at her a few times to be sure she was actually dead and not going to wake up and grab at her. The woman did not move, so Jessica stepped over her and headed for the door. It was locked, another good sign. She got out the crowbar she brought and jammed it into the thin gap between the door and the frame. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she tapped at the bar a few times with her bat, making sure it was jammed in as tight as it would go. Then she put the bat away and got a good grip on the crowbar. She had seen Merle do this once. A girl Jessica had hired to work at her salon had stole some money and a bunch of expensive equiptment and supplies. Jessica had been ready to call the cops on her until Merle asked her if she knew where the girl lived. They had watched her house and watied for her to leave Then Merle had popped the door open and Jessica had gotten her things back.

Jessica pulled down hard and fast on the crowbar. The door popped open much easier than she thought it would and the force she was using sent her flying into the opposite wall and then onto her ass on the floor. That had not happened to Merle when he had been popping that other door open, she thought with a smile. At least he wasn't here to laugh at her. She got up and brushed herself off, then headed into the pharmacy, holding the crowbar up in readiness. One of those things was in there, and she took it out with a few hard hits to the side of its head. It had a white pharmacy coat on. Of all the places to die, she felt bad for this man, who had to die at work instead of at home with his family. There was some dim light coming in from around the edges of the cover that was over the drive through window, but not enough to read the pill labels. Now Jessica wished she had brought a flashlight. RickyJo would have remembered to bring one.

It was her luck there was an emergency flashlight on the wall by the pharrmacy door. Jessica flicked the switch a few times, saying a silent prayer that it would work. She had to tap it against her palm a few times, but then the light came on. Slipping one of the straps of her backpack off, she swung it around and opened it. Then she got out the list that her grandmother had made for her. The handwriting was small and neat, with even cursive letters. Her Nana had been appalled to find out that Jessica's daughters were not even learning handwriting in school anymore. Cassie had laughed at the woman. _Don't you know everyone just uses a phone now Nana._ Jessica knew technology had made good handwriting a useless talent, but she still loved to look at her Nana's beautiful even script.

She headed down one of the aisles, throwing anything she saw on the list into her bag, and anything else she thought might be useful, like things she knew where antibiotics. And a few xanax for herself for after this awful road trip was over. The small blue football shaped pills always made her think of her cousin. RickyJo had never taken up with a lot of heavy drinking or drugs, but boy did she love her anxiety medications. She had a sudden image of the woman, sitting on the back porch tossing one of the pills down her throat and chasing it with a glass of red wine. Her feet had been bare and dirty, like they almost always were unless she was going to work. And she had been wearing her old cowboy hat, the white one with all the stains that was unravelling on one side. _One or two of these and a glass of wine and I forget every bad thing thats ever happened to me._ Jessica had tried one, but it had just made her tired.

She had the tamoxifen and the tramadol that she knew she needed, and a bunch more inhalers for Desiree. Plus a bunch of other shit. Now it was time to go. She tightened the straps of her pack and peeked out the door and down the hall. Those nasty things were back and there were a lot more of them now so she darted back into the pharmacy and closed the door behind her with a soft click. It would stay closed, but since she had already bent it, she knew it wouldn't hold under any kind of pressure. Luckily the things had not seen her or heard her yet so she should be alright for a minute. This place had to have another way out. She looked around in the back, hoping for an emergency exit, but there was not one to be found. Then she remembered the drive through window.

The woman had been inside the store for a long time and no one else had shown up to help her. That meant she must be by herself. The tall man knew it would be smarter to wait and follow her. She might lead them back to her camp. But these men were not that patient. Once they knew she was alone, they wanted to grab her now. She was the best looking woman they had seen in a while. The tall man also noticed she was the cleanest. She looked freshly bathed and her clothes and bike were clean. She didn't have food or supplies with her, which meant she had to be set up somewhere good. But the tall man knew from past experience these men were not going to listen to any of that. They just wanted to rape her. None of them ever thought beyond the present moment. The man knew that eventually he would kill these men and take over the group, but for now he needed them. Plus if he could stop them from killing her, he might be able to find out where her camp was without following her.

A few of the men were waiting by the front door of the store and the rest were spread out hiding behind cars in case the woman got past the men by the door. Despite trying to avoid him, the tall man had ended up hiding behind a car next to the dirty man, who was breathing through his mouth and making a lot of disgusting jokes about the carpet matching the drapes and talking about ass fucking and biting while he occasionally clutched at his crotch. Maybe he was grabbing himself because he was aroused thinking about the woman, or maybe he was just really itchy from being so dirty. Either way the tall man wished he would knock it off and shut the fuck up.

Most of the men were getting bored, and some were talking about going in to get her, when they heard the unexpected noise of a motorcycle starting up. The woman had not come out the front door, and must not have gone out the back either, since there were a few people waiting by that door that had not sounded any kind of alarm. Jessica had gone out the pharmacy drive through window. She had peeked out first, to check for the dead, and seen the men. She had waited until they were not looking in her direction and then bolted for her bike. Before they knew what happened, she was heading out of the parking lot and onto the road.

A lot of them were cussing and kicking at the ground, but the tall man ran for his truck and fired it up, following her. He made sure to stay back so she would not see him, almost losing her a few times in the process. But soon she was out on a country road and he was a few miles behind her. Once he saw the tall brick wall he didn't need to follow her anymore, she had to be going somewhere inside this wall. He would go back for the other men and then they would break this wall down and take what they wanted, including the woman.


	5. Chapter 5

Alexandria

Eugene was about as happy as he thought he could get. He was leaning against the counter watching RickyJo and Tara make lunch. Not only were they nicer to him than pretty much everyone else, but every one of his masturbatory fantasies started with him being alone with the two of them. And at some point he knew RickyJo would need to nurse her baby, which meant opening up her shirt and getting her breasts out. Enjoying a look at that made him feel a little perverted, but at this point, any tits were good tits.

The girls were making up lunch for everyone and something to take to the party so there was food thrown around everywhere. Every few minutes, one of the girls would come over with a bit of something on a spoon or fork for him to try. He had never had a curry before, but whatever it was it tasted good. That was for the party, they were frying fish tacos up for lunch.

"I thought Olivia said you could only have one can of coconut milk?," Tara asked RickyJo.

"I snagged another one while her back was turned," RickyJo admitted. Then she announced, "I do whatever I want." Tara laughed and took a few playful swats at her behind. She had jean cutoff shorts on that were so short she was practically begging for an ass smacking anyway.

"You are going to get us in trouble," she told her.

"Whatever," RickyJo said, "Fucking Carol was stealing candy."

"She was not."

"The fuck she wasn't. I saw her do it. And there was a totally decent looking guy in there and he was checking her out." Eugene was laughing at them. Carol stealing candy, now that would have been a sight. Everyone was adjusting to their new home in different ways but Carol was just ridiculous. She was putting on an act that there was no way she could keep up for long. And she had been walking around dressed up like an eighty year old grandma. Carol had burned down terminus and saved them all from cannibals, he wasn't sure why she thought that was something she needed to hide.

RickyJo heard the door open and shut, so she went to see who is was. The babies were in the front room alone, which made her a little nervous. Neither of them had ever seen tv before so she had turned on a cartoon and pulled the playpen right up in front. They were so engrossed in the show she wasn't sure they were even blinking. She saw the noise from the door had only been Daryl letting himself in, so she relaxed and went back to cooking.

Daryl leaned down to give MJ a rub on his head. The kid swatted him away with little grunt. Why that freaking kid hated him so much, he would never understand. All that time he spent rubbing RickyJo's stomach and talking to it was supposed to make the baby like him. He gave Judith a rub instead, and she smiled her little toothy grin up at him. Then he went to see what was smelling so good in the kitchen. Tara and RickyJo were cooking, and Eugene was leaning against the counter ogling them. Not that Daryl could blame him. They were both in bathing suits and shorts with tank tops. He guessed they must be taking the babies out to swim in the little plastic pool someone had brought over for them. People around this place sure loved babies, he had never seen anyone get so much free stuff in his life.

He moved in, putting his arms around RickyJo and putting his hands under her shirt to feel her stomach. She put her spoon down and turned around so she could hug him back, rubbing her cheek against his softly. He reached over and stole a peice of fish off the paper towel lined plate that was sitting on the counter. It must have just come out of the hot oil because he burned the fuck out of his mouth.

"Thats what you get," RickyJo told him, laughing at him a little. He should have waited until lunch was ready instead of snatching it off the counter. Letting the fish cool a little first, he took another bite. It was good.

"This beer batter?," he asked her. She nodded and gestured towards the fridge. There was beer in there, and it was cold. He pulled one out and took a long drink. It was better than christmas. "You want one?," he asked the girls. They shook their heads, they had already split one while they were cutting the food up to cook it.

"You want to swim with us after lunch?," RickyJo asked him. "Well we are mostly going to lay out and watch the babies swim." She and Tara started giggling.

"Yeh," Tara said, "we are going to find out what the people around here think about topless sunbathing."

"You better be joking," Daryl told them. This sent them off laughing harder.

"Only in the backyard," RickyJo said, like that somehow made it better.

"Men don't have to wear shirts," Eugene added, "Its about equality." Now Tara was really laughing, leaning over the counter to put her head in her arms. Eugene did not give a rats ass about equality. He was just a pervert. She had even seen him scoping on RickyJo's tits when she was feeding her baby. You just had to love him though. He was just himself and never apologized for it. Tara walked over and gave him a hug. She thought about when they had all found out about him lying about being a scientist.

Rosita had made a big announcement to everyone, thinking it was going to be this huge blow up and they were all going to get as upset as Abraham had. But RickyJo just started laughing. _Does the word duh mean anything to you._ Abraham had started questioning her about how she knew and then Merle had yelled at him. _Because she actually is a fucking scientist, thats how she knows._ She had made sure to clarify that she was in fact a biologist. Then she had said something about using parasites to kill a virus, like it was the best joke ever. Like every single one of them had been totally dumb to believe it. Abraham had still been acting all salty and she had told him its not like he had anything better to do than take Eugene to Washington. For a second Tara had thought Abraham might go for her and hit her, like he did to Eugene, but he just hugged her against his chest and kissed her on the forehead. He had been a little weird with her before because she had been living at terminus but after that they were friends.

Rick came back for lunch, he had been walking around in his new police uniform, talking to people and checking the walls for about the tenth time. He was not happy with the lack of security. Sure they were safe from walkers, but these people seemed to have no idea that what they really needed to be watching out for was other people. And he had found out there was a gun up in the watchtower, but no one even kept watch up there. He wanted the people here armed with guns, but Deanna did not agree with him and he wasn't happy about it.

No one was inside the house, but he could hear voices and baby laughter outside so he guessed everyone must be out there. There were a few plates on the counter with tacos on them, so he guessed at least one was for him. He sat down at the table and ate, then went to see what everyone was doing. On his way out he bumped into Carol. She held her hands up.

"I already told them to knock it off," she warned him. Then she headed towards the front door. What in the hell was she talking about. Rick walked towards the back door to find a few of the guys sitting on the back porch, drinking beer. All the girls were down in the yard on towels and lawn chairs, with no tops on. He wasn't really surprised in RickyJo or Rosita. After all they didn't care who saw them have sex. But Michonne, Tara, Sammie and Beth were down there too. While Daryl, Eugene and Bob had opted to stay on the porch, Carl had decided if there was naked sunbathing happening he was going to take advantage. He had pulled his chair up right between Sammie and RickyJo and he was kicked back with his hands behind his head and a pair of sunglasses on. Noah was down there too, but he was lying on his stomach on a towel and he looked like he was sleeping. Michonne had a book and she was taking turns with RickyJo, reading aloud for everyone. There was a sunshade set up for the babies, who were happily splashing away in a few inches of water in a little plastic pool.

RickyJo saw him and gave him a little wave. She could tell he was pissed but decided to ignore him. She let him know there was another lawn chair next door if he wanted it. He wasn't even sure what to say or think about what was going on at first so he just stood there staring. It was really making him mad that Beth was out there with her breasts out for everyone to see. Bob saw Rick's expression and tried to hide his laughter.

"What in the hell are you doing?," Rick asked the girls.

"What in the hell does it look like?," Michonne asked him, "getting some sun." It was hard to even look at her since she was half naked.

"Its okay," RickyJo told him, "Deanna never said this wasn't allowed." Rick shook his head. Deanna also hadn't said that it was against the rules to sneak into people's and shit on their dining room tables. Just because something wasn't specifically against the rules didn't mean it was allowed.

"Reg stopped by earlier to bring us the sunshade," Carl said, "he didn't seem to mind." Just when Rick thought it couldn't get any worse. Deanna's husband was over here. Rick bet the man didn't mind getting an eyeful but that didn't mean his wife was going to appreciate this.

"Yeah," Daryl added, "and then both his sons came over to bring them all some iced tea." To Daryl it was clear the man had thought it would be funny to send his sons over here, whether he warned them first about what was going on or not Daryl wasn't sure. One of them had tripped on the steps and fallen on his face. Fucking idiot.

The door banged shut behind Rick and he turned to see it was that woman next door that had given him a haircut. She had a lawn chair with her and was wearing a bathing suit. Jessie smiled at Rick and set her lawn chair up near the baby pool but not close enough to get splashed. Then she lay down on her stomach and untied her top.

"What chapter are you on?," she asked Michonne. They were on chapter three. "Oh good, the next one is my favorite. I can take a turn reading if you guys want," she offered. Now Rick really didn't know what to do. It was one thing for him to yell at his own people, but Jessie lived here. And she didn't seem to mind what was going on. He decided he didn't care.

"Okay," he said to them, "all of you get your clothes back on." When no one moved to obey him he added, "Right now."

"We are in the backyard," Beth told him. The backyard, what did that have to do with it. Forget about what Deanna thought. What if they came under attack by another group and everyone was fucking naked. Michonne ignored him and went back to reading the story like he wasn't standing there. Rick stomped off into the house, letting the door smack shut behind him. He really could not believe those girls. Bob finally let go and started laughing.

"He has got to lighten up," he said.


	6. Chapter 6

Jessica

She was sure she had long outrun the men from the parking lot, but it wasn't until she heard the metal gate lock with a loud clang that she started to feel safe again. She held one of the bars, gripping it tightly in her hand, and tried to regain some composure before she had to face her daughters. The hysteria was rising up inside her, making her insides feel like they were on fire. She ripped her water bottle out of her pack, dropping her pack on the ground in her intense attempt to open the bottle. Calm down, she ordered herself, you are squeezing the cap too hard. Finally she got the bottle open and tipped the now warm water to her lips, chugging it down. When she finished the last drop, she dropped the bottle and sat down hard on the ground. She put her head in her hands, feeling scared and disapointed in herself for being scared. Then she started to laugh.

She had gotten all the medication she needed and gotten back home without a scratch. Those men had tried to grab her and she had gotten away. She wished she could have seen the looks on their faces when they watched her speeding off. Find someone else to torture today you assholes, cause I am faster and smarter than you. Jessica had done it. And she had done it alone. RickyJo would be proud of her. And while the doubt would creep into her mind later, in that moment, Jessica knew if she could make it alone, her cousin was going to be just fine. Jessica collected herself and wiped the tears off her face. Then she headed up to the house to let her family know she was back.

It was two days later when the man came for them. Jessica and her daughters were out working in one of the barns. She felt a strange rumbling sensation. If she had to describe it, she would have said it felt like what she would imagine a minor earthquake would feel like. She guessed maybe a large tree feel in the woods somewhere nearby or maybe some of the goats or sheep were ramming at each other again. A person without any farm experience would be surprised how hard they could hit each other when they really got going. But then the animals started running around like crazy in the pasture. They had heard the men before she did. Cassie grabbed her sister and mother by the arms and pulled them into the barn. She wasn't sure what was about to happen, but she knew it was going to be terrible. Then they heard the yelling and another crash, louder this time. Jessica guessed from the direction of the noise that it was their front gate being rammed in.

The men came in trucks, some of them pulling up into her Nana's flower beds in front of the main house. One man drove his truck through the wooden fence on the goat pasture and drove around in there, trying to run over as many animals as he could. A tall man near one of the trucks in the front yard was yelling for him to stop. They could eat those goats later, stop running them over. The man turned the truck around, heading back out of the pasture. On his way he swerved and ran over Desiree's pet goat that she had been raising for 4H before the outbreak. It made a sickening cracking noise and then the goat was screaming in pain. Jessica held tight to her daughter to keep her from running to help the animal. The men kicked in the front door of the house and ran inside.

"Nana's in there," Cassie whispered to her mother in horror. Jessica looked around. They didn't even have any guns out here, they were all inside the house. She could grab a pitchfork, but those men would shoot her dead before she got close enough to use it on them. One of the men came out of the house dragging Nana by her hair. He was yelling at her to tell him where the woman was. The one with the red hair. "He means you Mom," Cassie said. Now Jessica knew these must have been the men from the parking lot. She had been stupid to think that none of them followed her. The tall man took hold of Nana and pulled her forward, down off the porch into the front yard. It was obvious that the old woman wasn't going to tell them where her family was, but maybe they could draw them out.

"Come on out or we are going to kill her," he yelled. Then he turned and slapped the old woman so hard across the face it knocked her onto the ground. Another man knelt down and started ripping off her clothes.

"We have to help her, they are hurting Nana," Desiree said through her tears. Jessica was thinking the same thing. But she was older and smarter than her daughter. She knew if she showed herself they were not going to stop hurting her grandmother. Not only that, but if they found her daughters, they would likely rape them as well.

"We can't help her," Jessica told her girls, "we have to get out now." Then she grabbed them each by the hand and headed for the back of the barn to go out the other side. She was thinking about where she could take them. Any of the buildings on the main property would be searched soon. But they had no food or supplies to try and leave with. Then she remembered the cabin. Jessica never went out there much, but RickyJo went all the time, and she kept her guns out there and a lot of beer and wine, plus some food and a first aid kit.

"Where are we going to go?," Cassie asked her mother, turning back like she wasn't sure she was ready to give up yet on trying to fight the men.

"The cabin," Jessica told them, "Run fast as you can for the back gate behind the vineyard, they don't know the cabin is out there. We can hide there for a little while." Cassie nodded and Desiree just looked like she was in shock. Jessica slapped her youger daughter lightly across the face to wake her up. "We have to run or they are going to get us," she told the girl. Desiree nodded. "You girls move fast and stay with me." Then they headed out the back of the barn. The last noises they heard were the fading screams of the girls great grandmother as the men assaulted her.

The tall man looked over the items in the back of his truck. Even though the red haired woman had gotten away again, this had been well worth the drive. To bad the men had bashed the walls in in a few places or they might have been able to move in here. As it was they had plenty of food and even some animals to take back to camp with them. One truck was loaded with two of the solar panels and the boxes they would need to make them work. At least he had been able to talk the men into bringing those along. Loading one truck with booze had been the compromise.

Now they were heading North, back to their camp. A few of the men were still complaining about not finding any more women there. When they were spying, they had seen the red hair woman and two girls that looked like her only younger and with a darker complexions. The tall man was thinking about how stupid these men were. All they worried about was finding women when most of them had wives or girlfriends back at camp. He often thought that if any of them ever thought about laying a hand on his daughter, he would lose what little of his mind he had left and kill them all.

They were about a half hour from their camp when the tall man slowed his truck down. There were a bunch of biters swarming around a van. This could only mean there was someone alive inside. The men got out and took out the biters easily. Then the tall man opened the back door of the van.

"Oh hell," the dirty man exclaimed, "its just some half dead asshole, shoulda let tha biters have 'im" The tall man knew the dirty man had just been hoping there was a woman inside that he could have his way with. That was really all the man thought about. The guy in the van did look pretty bad though, even the tall man had to admit that. He was missing one hand and the spot where it used to be was burnt and bloody and disgusting. It was clear the man must have cut it off himself. And a man like that could be very useful to the tall man. In that moment everything he had been thinking about became suddenly clear in his mind. He was going to take over this group and this man was going to be the one to help him do it.


	7. Chapter 7

Alexandria

Since the turn, RickyJo had a lot of people try to do a lot a strange things to her. Inviting her to a party was a definately new one. It seemed a little surreal, like it was too close to normal life. Was this the dream or were they finally waking up from a nightmare. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but these people seemed like they were actually nice. A little naive, but nice. The area the safe zone was in had been totally evacuated, so the residents had not seen any other people except for the few stragglers they had brought in for the last two years. The people here were not tough. They were not good at shooting or fighting. They didn't know how to find wild mushrooms or set up a trap to catch a rabbit. Their walls had gone up just in time. If they had to go out on the road, every single one of them would be dead in a month. When she looked at the people here, RickyJo thought they were the real walking dead. Not the biters or her friends. These people. Just waiting for some minor castastrophe to kill them all. Like they were all transparent, walking around on borrowed time.

Well she didn't care she was going to party with them anyway. Jessie from across the street was going to the party, and RickyJo liked her. The woman was nice and sweet and pretty. She had brought over her hair straightener and fixed RickyJo's hair for her and then she had done her makeup too, so her scars didn't show. RickyJo was so happy with her appearance she grabbed Jessie, giving her a tight hug. Jessie winced.

"Sorry," RickyJo told her, "you hurt your shoulder?" RickyJo didn't think much of it until she saw the shame in the other woman's eyes. She knew that look, she had seen it on her mother's face more than she cared to remember.

"I hurt it trying to pick up something that was too heavy for me," Jessie lied.

"Next time come get me and I will help you," RickyJo told her. Or I will bash your asshole husband's face in, she thought. Jessie nodded and started picking her things up. She had to go home and get herself ready. RickyJo waited until she left and then got dressed. She had on a black tank top and a long flowy colorful skirt. It was very Mother Earth which she felt suited her now that she was a mommy. And she liked the look with her hair, which hung almost to her waist now that it was straightened out. She even had some jewelery on, but had to take the earings back off as soon as she tried to pick up MJ. He went right for them and almost yanked her earlobe off. Well, she still had a necklace and her nails and toenails were painted.

Beth knocked on the door. She had been getting ready in her own room and they were going to walk over together. All the guys had been driving her nuts, so RickyJo had already sent them ahead with the food. Rick had taken Judith with him. She noticed Beth had a big hickey on her neck that she was trying to cover up with her hair. RickyJo poked at it.

"I see you and Rick made up?," she asked. Beth nodded.

"Yeah I think I better wear my bikini top from now on when we are laying out," Beth said with a grin. RickyJo smiled too. Personally, she thought Rick was being a real prude. Merle had only been mad about it because he hadn't been around to see it. Then again, he was used to everyone seeing her breasts while she was feeding the baby to maybe his threshold for acceptable social nudity was set a lot higher than Rick's.

"Ready to go," she asked. Beth nodded, everyone else was already there. RickyJo picked MJ up and the girls headed downstairs. When the got out on the street, RickyJo let him down to walk with each of them holding onto one of his hands. He had his first pair of shoes on, and he was delighted with them. He was walking in a funny little way, trying to pick his feet way up in the air with each step so he could see his shoes. Jessie had cut his hair, so he looked like a little man now, instead of a baby. RickyJo had waited until Jessie left and then cried about how grown up he looked. He looked a lot like Daryl when he was a baby, but now the resemblance was even more indisputable. He was a cute little thing, but RickyJo often wished he had gotten his Uncle's temperament instead of his looks. MJ was all stubborness and bad attitude. And while she liked to blame Merle, she had a feeling he had gotten at least a portion of that attitude from her.

They walked up to the porch and one of Deanna's sons, RickyJo thought this one was Spencer, opened the door for them. He gave the two girls a very appreciative look over. They were both very pretty, and even better all clean and dressed up. He was especially curious about Beth, who he knew was dating a man much older than her. Spencer wondered if maybe that was something she had to do so the man would keep her safe. Now that she was here, maybe she would be looking to date someone more her own age. Either way she was nice to talk to and he would like to get to know her better.

The other woman was better looking, but Spencer found her more than a little intimidating. His father had told him she was some kind of famous biologist. And she had all those tattoos, someone like that would probably not be interested in anything he had to say. Her baby sure was cute though. And holding him made her seem a little more approachable. Spencer stammered a little and then finally spit out what he wanted to say.

"Would you like anything to drink?," he asked the girls.

"Is there wine?," RickyJo asked. He nodded. "What kind?," she asked. He didn't know that so he led her into the kitchen and showed her where it was. She started poking through the bottles, looking at the labels. "This one," she said, holding up a particular bottle, "And a glass for Beth too." Beth usually didn't drink wine, but RickyJo leaned down and whispered to her. _Four hunded dollars a bottle._ Beth guessed if it was that expensive it must be good. Spencer handed the girls each a glass and Beth watched RickyJo to see what she was going to do. She swirled the wine around a little and then stuck her nose in the glass. Then she took a sip and closed her eyes. Beth did the same. The wine was not that great, but much better after the first sip. Maybe thats what people meant when they said you had to get a taste for it. Spencer's father saw the girls sipping the wine and walked over.

"What have you got?," Reg asked her.

"The Stryker Cabernet," she told him, "you know its the good stuff because it has the all black label." Reg laughed.

"I would have pegged you as more of a straight tequilla shooter," he told the woman. She smiled, people always thought that because of all the tattoos.

"I have been known to sip on that too," she told the man, she winked and added, "I have even been known to smoke a little marijuana, only medicinally of course." Spencer started laughing and he saw his dad was smiling too. Of all the terrible things these people had talked about having to do out on the road, admitting to smoking a little pot seemed funny.

"You know," Reg told her, "I have two whole cases of that wine in the basement."

"Are you fucking serious?," RickyJo blurted out. Then she opened her mouth wide, shocked at herself. That was some bad language to be using in the middle of these people's fancy party. She had been hanging around Merle too much. "Sorry," she said, "I just got really excited." Reg was not offended, in fact he found her excitement rather endearing.

"I will have Spencer bring some over for you," he told her. RickyJo thanked him profusely, making Beth laugh. She had never heard someone get so excited about some dirty old grape juice. Beth wanted to go find Rick, so she took off into the other room and RickyJo was feeling a little crowded, so she went out on the back porch for a little air. She saw someone sitting on the back steps and almost turned back around until she noticed it was Daryl. He heard the door, but didn't look up to see who it was until he felt a hand on his shoulder. RickyJo lowered herself down and shifted MJ around in her lap until they were both comfortable. He must be tired because he was happy just to be held for once. Then she took another sip of her wine.

She looked so different than Daryl was used to seeing her. If she didn't have MJ in her lap he would have sworn it was back before the outbreak. Even the scars on her face were gone. She still had that quiet haunted look in her eyes, but that had always been there. It was the look she used humor to cover up when there were other people around. With her hair down and soft like that it reminded him of the way she looked when they went to Mexico together. He had not thought about that in such a long time, it felt like memories that happened to someone else. Or something he saw in a movie.

She finished the last of her wine and set the glass behind her on the porch. When she looked down, MJ was asleep. Since he was out cold, RickyJo handed him gently to Daryl. She didn't know why MJ would never go to him when he was awake, but it always made her a little sad. She moved closer to them and rested her head on Daryl's shoulder.

"I should take him home and put him to bed," Daryl said quietly, "I'm not really into being here anyway."

"I will go with you but do you think I should look for Merle first?," she asked.

"He is inside getting drunk and telling war stories with Abraham," Daryl told her. She smiled. In that case, he would never even know if she was here or not.

"Lets go then," she said, "do you want me to carry Emmie?"

"No I got him," Daryl said. Since the only time he could come near the kid was when he was asleep he might as well take advantage. Everyone said the baby looked like him, but he thought he looked like RickyJo when he was sleeping. He held the baby with one arm and put the other arm around RickyJo. They walked between the houses and then down the street towards home. It was funny how she was thinking of it as home already, and had not thought of any of the other places they had lived like that, even the prison, and they had lived there much longer.

Aaron was out on his porch when he saw them walk by. He thought about just letting them pass, but he had been waiting for his chance to talk to Daryl.

"Had enough of the party already?," he asked.

"You didn't go?," RickyJo asked him. He shook his head. Deanna's fancy parties really were not his scene.

"We are about to have dinner if you want to come in," he offered. RickyJo looked at Daryl to see what he wanted to do. She was actually starving, since she had not eaten because they were going to the party and then not had anything to eat there.

"That would be nice," Daryl told him. Aaron led them up the steps and took the cushions off the couch to make a little spot for them to lay the baby down. Then he covered the little guy with a blanket. RickyJo leaned down and gave him a soft kiss, stroking his hair back away from his face. She had a special kind of love she reserved only for her son. And it was all consuming. She stood up and felt Daryl's arms around her. She hugged him back and rubbed her cheek against his. Seeing they were having a special moment, Aaron stepped back and headed into the kitchen. He had been under the impression that this girl was married to Daryl's brother, but maybe he had gotten something confused, because the two people in his living room clearly had feelings for each other.

They walked into the kitchen, holding hands, and sat down at the table opposite each other. Aaron was serving up spaghetti for everyone, and more wine. RickyJo only took half a glass this time, she might need to nurse her son or Judith later and she didn't want to make them sick. Daryl was shoveling the pasta into his mouth like he forgot every table manner he knew. RickyJo smiled at little at him, but she used her fork and spoon, curling the noodles up properly so she wouldn't make a mess. Eric was making random conversation about pasta makers, and then he said something about when Daryl was on the road. Aaron hushed him up. RickyJo was wondering what the big secret was but she wasn't sure she wanted to know. She had not liked the sound of it.

When everyone was done eating, Aaron took Daryl out to the garage to show him some motorcycle he was working on. RickyJo put the dishes in the sink and talked a little with Eric. He was a very sweet person and he made her feel comfortable. They were chatting back and forth a little, talking about what schools they went to back before the outbreak. Then RickyJo thought about what he had said during dinner.

"What did you mean," she asked, "about Daryl being out on the road?"

"Oh," Eric answered, "Aaron asked Deanna not to give him a job because he wants him to be Alexandria's new recruiter." RickyJo was on her feet so quick she almost knocked into the table. Then she was storming out to the garage. First she pointed at Aaron.

"No," she told him. Then she took Daryl's hand and practically dragged him out of the garage. Aaron was a little taken aback. He had not expected this woman to get so upset. She was mumbling curses under her breath and she went into the living room and scooped up her baby. Then she walked out of the house with Daryl trailing after her. They walked back down to their house without speaking and then up the stairs to her room so she could put MJ in the playpen where he slept. Daryl was in the doorway watching her. She turned and took his hand again, heading for his room which was at the end of the hall.

Once they were inside, she kicked the door closed and pulled him close to her, kissing him hard on the mouth. They had just gotten there, finally safe and now these people wanted Daryl to go back out. Nope, she was not having it. She wanted him right here, with her where nothing was going to happen to him. Just look at what Rick had almost done to Aaron, and they were nice people. What was going to happen if the people they met out there were crazy like the ones from terminus or woodbury. These people could go right out and do their own goddamn recruiting. Or better yet, stop doing it altogether.

They were kissing now, her hands were around his neck, fingers twisting into his hair and he had one hand on either side of her waist. The last time they had been together was at her grandfather's cabin, after she found out her family was dead. And that had been months ago. He was pulling at her dress, gathering it up until he could feel her legs and then lifting her up so she could wrap them around him. She pulled her shirt up over her head, dropping it on the floor and then felt his hands behind her back, unsnapping her bra so he could push it down and get her breasts in his face. They smelled like heaven and tasted like french vanilla ice cream.

He stepped towards the bed, his legs knocking into to side of the mattress and sending her flying onto the top of the covers with a bounce. RickyJo got up on her knees by the side of the bed and pulled her bra the rest of the way off, untangling it from her hair. She had forgotten how good her hair felt against her bare skin when it was soft and smooth like this. The she pulled Daryl close to her, kissing his mouth and unbuttoning his shirt before she started on his pants. Slipping out of his shirt he held her close, feeling her warm skin and the silky texture of her hair and the hard little points of her nipples where they were pressing against his chest. And he was kissing her and kissing her, the more he kissed her the more he wanted to keep doing it.

She pulled him onto the bed with her, pushing him down onto the pillows and sitting up to pull his pants the rest of the way off so they weren't scrunched up around his ankles. She leaned over him, her hair falling on either side of their faces like curtains. Moving slowly she touched the tip of her nose to his, moving it back and forth. Then she kissed his lips as softly as she could, just a whisper of a kiss, moving back when he tried to press in harder. He reached up, gripping her arms and rolling her onto her back so he could press her against the pillows and kiss her hard, forcing his tounge inside her mouth. She moaned into his mouth and then she spread her legs, wrapping them around his waist and rocking her hips back. He could feel the heat radiating through the thin material of the little bikini underpants she had on. He sat back and slid his thumbs under the strappy parts on the sides of her panties, whisking then down and off, tossing them behind him.

Then she felt his weight on her again, heavy for a moment before he used his elbows to hold himself up. She could feel the throbbing between her legs, like she would do anything in the world for him if she could just have him inside her now. He was kissing her and he felt her hands go between them, caressing him and then guiding him inisde of her. As soon as he pushed all the way inside her she felt her orgasm rip through her and she had to bite down on her lips to keep from crying out. And then he was moving, slowly at first and then faster. All she could do was hang on and close her eyes, the sensations passing over her in waves, making her forget where she was and who she was. There was only this moment. He was rubbing his face into her hair, kissing and sucking her neck and telling her I love you I love you I love you. When he came she came with him, the spasms so hard and deep inside her they almost hurt.

He groaned softly when he pulled out of her and just let his body topple onto the bed next to her. Every muscle in his body felt like the overcooked spaghetti noodles they had for dinner. RickyJo caught her breath and then rolled onto her side so she could snuggle in next to him, feeling blissfully satisfied and still a little buzzed from the wine. She tilted her head back, kissing along his jawline before her turned so he could kiss her back. Then he pulled her against his chest, rubbing her back softly with one hand. She could feel her eyelids getting heavy and she rubbed her face a little to wake herself back up. It would not be a good scene if she fell asleep in here.

"I don't want you to take that job," she told him.

"I know," he said plainly. She had made that more than obvious back at Aaron's house.

"Well you are going to stay here with me aren't you?," she asked, rubbing his chest and then moving down to rub his stomach. He thought about it. It had meant a lot to him when Aaron offered him that job. And he thought he would be good at it. And being on the road would mean not having to be here, watching RickyJo sleep in bed every night with his brother. If she was sleeping with him every night, he would have a reason to stay here.

"I want you," he told her, "Tell Merle its over and be with me and I will stay." RickyJo sat up a little to look at him. She wasn't sure if he was really serious. After all, he had never said anything like that to her before. And it made her a little bit angry. If he wanted her so bad, why couldn't he have told her that back at the prison when he had been avoiding her. Then she never would have started things back up with Merle in the first place. And While Merle was a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, she knew that would crush him. And he had done nothing to deserve it. Now Daryl was puting this all on her, like if she said no and something terrible happened to him out there it would be her fault.

"Ultimatums don't sit too well with me Daryl," she told him.

"Yeah well sneaking around my brother's back to fuck my own girlfriend doesn't sit too fucking well with me," he hissed at her. She wasn't even going to stay the night in here with him. As soon as she got done she probably couldn't wait to go back to her own bed and wait for Merle. It was just making him angrier and angrier the more he thought about it. Just because she had something bad happened to her, didn't give her the right to act like a big whore.

"Its not that easy. Merle is Emmie's father. We got married," she told Daryl. Now Daryl was really pissed. He was sick of Merle throwing this stupid being married in his face. She didn't even have a goddman ring.

"A fake fucking wedding performed by a bunch of cannibals doesn't fucking count," he yelled at her. Now RickyJo was upset. She didn't like people bringing up the cannibal stuff. Every night she had nightmares that someone was coming to cut her breasts off and butcher up her son. She got up and started looking for her clothes, feeling tears threatening to well up in her eyes. It crossed Daryl's mind that yelling at RickyJo and insulting her might not be the best way to win her back from his brother. He got up and tried to gather her into his arms to hold her. She pulled her hand back and slapped him across the face.

"You keep your fucking hands off me," she told him, her voice shaking. Now she could feel the tears bubbling up and spilling out, wetting her cheeks. She turned and flung the door open. Then she ran down the hall with her arm over her breasts and her skirt and hair flying out behind her. She got to her room and shut the door, locking it. She shoved her skirt down and threw it in the clothes hamper, then poked through her drawer of the dresser until she found the soft cotton shorts and big mens tshirt with the neck cut out that she liked to sleep in. Then she reached into the playpen to check on her son. He was still sleeping soundly. RickyJo crawled under her covers and held her pillow against her, crying into it.

A few minutes later she heard someone yanking at the doorknob and then a soft knocking on the door.

"Go away," she said. She had guessed it was Daryl. But then she heard Merle's drunken slurring outside the door.

"Whata I do," he said, "Come on lemee in." Then she heard Abraham out there.

"Open up the door I can't hold him up much longer," he called to her. She couldn't help but laugh. RickyJo got up and flung the door open. Then she helped Abraham get Merle onto the bed. She pulled his shoes off and then unhooked the straps on his arm sleeve, pulling that off and chunking it onto the floor.

"Thats almost worse than seeing him naked," Abraham remarked. RickyJo got up and shooed him back out into the hall before he could start trying to kiss the baby, his mini ginger, as he liked to call him.

"Thank you Abraham," she told him, "goodnight." Then she shut the door.

"Night Night," he told her thought the door. When she turned back to Merle she could already hear him snoring. Well at least someone had a good time at the party, she thought. Then she got back into bed and snuggled down next to him, finding his body heat comforting. Within a few minutes she was fast asleep. That night instead of the horrible dreams that usually came she had a new dream. She was on a beach with MJ, watching him run in and out of the water. The sand was white and the water was clear and blue as far as she could see. It looked like the water in a swimming pool. And then her cousin Jessica was there. She was watching MJ. _He has my hair._ She reached down and touched RickyJo's stomach. When RickyJo looked down she saw her belly was big and swollen. When she touched it she felt blissfully happy.

When she looked up again, her grandfather was there. _Ricky Roo kangaroo. Congratulations baby. Name this one after me._ He looked out at MJ. Then he was there, lifting the small boy up and tossing him into the air. Then he set him down so he could run back to his momma on his little chubby baby legs. It was hard to hoist him up with her stomach so big. He hugged onto her neck. Then Jessica was back, with her girls and RickyJo's Nana. But Nana looked young again, like the old black and white pictures RickyJo had seen of her from when her grandparents got married. Her grandfather was kissing her and then he was young again too. Her little nieces came up and she bent down to kiss each one on their cheeks. Then they ran back to Jessica and they all turned and walked into the water. MJ was struggling to get down, he wanted to go with them. But RickyJo held tight to him. _You belong here with me._ He started to cry and cry.

And then she woke to hear him crying in his playpen. She picked her son up, laying him down on the bed with her and pulling her shirt down to feed him. She ran her hand across her stomach, almost expecting it to be big a swollen like in the dream, but feeling relieved to find it was still flat. RickyJo stroked her son's hair and thought about her dream. Jessica's eyes had been the same color as the water. Sometimes she missed her family so much that it hurt inside. But she was glad to have her son. And two men that cared for her even if they didn't always show it in ways she could understand.


	8. Chapter 8

Jessica

It was wet and damp. The treehouse they had been sleeping in kept the worst of the rainstorm off them, but a lot of water still blew in from the open sides. Before winter came, they were going to need a better place to stay. For now, there was a stream nearby for water and fish. And there was a small town nearby that they had been sneaking into when they were feeling brave enough. The dead were always there, but Jessica and her girls had begun to think of them like bees or hornets. If you stayed quiet enough and left them alone, they would usually leave you alone.

Desiree was still asleep but Cassie was up. Once she saw that her mother was awake, she got up slowly so she wouldn't wake her sister and climbed down the ladder to use the bathroom. She thought again about how she wished they could go back home, even though she knew it was wishful thinking. Those men knew where the place was and might be back at any time to gather more supplies. They could never go home again. Cassie wanted to go look for her Aunt Ricky, but they had already tried that.

Jessica and the girls had found a camp in the mountains by where they used to go camping where they thought RickyJo might have been staying at one time, but wherever she was, she was long gone from that spot. It had been comforting to know that she was alive when she had last been there, and now they knew that Daryl and Merle were probably with her. If the three of them were together, there was a good chance they were all still alive. Cassie wished one of her Uncles were with them, it didn't seem fair that they were both with her Aunt and she was stuck alone with only her mother to protect her.

There was a noise on the ladder, and Cassie turned to make sure it was only her mother. Jessica felt beat down and hopeless and from the way her daughter looked at her, she knew she wasn't looking much better than she felt. As the end of summer was approaching, Jessica had been thinking more and more about where they were going to stay for the winter. Making a fire at night made them visible, but not making one meant they might die of cold and exposure. This treehouse was not going to cut it. There were buildings in the small town that looked like they might be able to be fortified somehow, but none of them had water this close, which meant leaving to go get water, which meant the risk of being seen. She had been weighing the risks over and over in her mind, and she had not been able to decide what to do.

"I think we better go into town today and start looking for a place to hole up for the winter," Jessica told her daughter. Cassie nodded. Since the nights had been getting cooler, she had been thinking they were going to need another place to sleep. It was really too bad that the prison they had seen was full of so many boogies. That place looked safe and solid inside. Guess they were going to have to settle on something less secure.

"What about that gas station?," Cassie asked. It had a big metal walk in freezer that had a thick ass door that latched. "We could sleep in the freezer."

"No window and no air flow," Jessica reminded her, "and people are more likely to come to a gas station looking for gas." They had talked about this before. "I still think we ought to pick out a house with a fireplace and board the windows on the ground floor up." Cassie nodded. She didn't think it sounded like the best idea her mother ever had, but it wasn't her worst either.

"What about those closed up stores downtown, big brick buildings without a lot of windows," Cassie suggested. Jessica made a silent wish that a roll of toilet paper would appear, and then pulled her pants up. She thought about her daughter's idea. It wasn't a bad one. They might be less easy to spot in one of those old shops than in a boarded up house.

"We will take a look there first," she told Cassie, making her smile. Smiles from either of her girls were hard to come by these days. Jessica felt bad about it, and responsible for their situation. She never should have driven directly back home after those men spotted her. RickyJo never would have been that stupid. What happened to Nana had been her fault. It still hurt too much to think about Nana, maybe she would think about her tomorrow, but not today.

Desiree woke up and found herself alone. She was in a panic. Jessica heard her rustling around then her head popped up over the side of the treehouse, eyes open wide with fear. Cassie called up to her, telling her they were just having a morning pee and to stop being such a scare baby. Desiree had such a look of relief on her face, it made Jessica laugh.

"We would never leave without you Dezzie," she called up softly to her daughter, who was flopping back down on what passed for her bed in a huff. Then Jessica climbed the ladder and sent the girl down so she could pack up their things. Once Cassie saw her mother was packing up everything, even the bedding, she knew the woman was serious this time about finding another place to live.

"We really aren't coming back here tonight?," Cassie asked. Jessica shook her head, her curls bobbing with the motion.

"Not if we can help it," she told her daughter. She expected some complaint from her youngest, but it seemed the thrill of living in a treehouse had worn off. The wet rain and swarms of mosquitos might have a little something to do with that, Jessica thought. They had put up some netting, but the terrible little creatures just found another way in. All night every night they were buzzing in their ears, flying into their mouths and otherwise making sleeping unbearable.

A few hours later, they had hiked it into town and found a spot that looked like it might serve their purposes. The building had only tiny high windows on the ground floor, and two door they could easily block off. Upstairs was a little messy, but better than a wet treehouse. There were a few couches they could drag together for the night. And some of the stores had apartments above them, so they might be able to get a few mattresses or cots to bring up without having to go too far to get them. There was a big water cooler with an extra bottle of water. It wouldn't last forever, but at least they were not going to go thirsty in the next week or two.

Cassie was sweeping up dust and garbage when she looked out the window and saw them. It was a boy about her age and a man who she guessed was his father. She hit the ground under the window, shaking in fear and hoping they had not seen her. Desiree was on the floor as well, not needing to be told. If her sister was afraid, she was afraid, she didn't need to know why. Jessica crawled over and took a quick glance.

It was just one man and a boy. She found herself still a little afraid of the strangers, but they didn't look that bad. And she and her girls had guns and they outnumbered the men. Jessica leaned against the frame against her daughter's advice and tried to get a better look at the man. He was tall and very dark skinned with dark hair that was cut short. The boy with him was around Cassie's age. She could tell by the way the boy stuck very close the man and minicked his movements that the boy trusted the man and cared for him. After what had happened back at her Nana's farm, Jessica was reluctant to trust anyone. But she was going to have a hard time getting by with just her and her girls. If this man was protecting his son, maybe he wasn't bad like that other group of men that had attacked them. Not everyone left alive could be bad, right? There had to be some normal people left.

"I am going to follow him and see where he goes," Jessica told her daughters.

"No, stay here Mom," Cassie said, grabbing her mother's pant leg like she was no more than a small toddler again. Desiree didn't say anything but she looked terrified.

"If he is staying around here I need to see where," Jessica told them, "I won't let him see me." Cassie looked at her doubtfully. Her Aunt had been the one who was good at sneaking around quietly. Her mother stomped through the woods, sending rabbits and squirells bounding away and out of her path. Jessica did not like the doubtful look in her daughter's eyes. Why couldn't Cassie just have a little faith in her. Certainly she was capable of following one man and his son without being spotted. "Stay here and be quiet," she told her girls firmly. Then she dashed down the stairs.

The man was passing by on the other side of the street. Jessica stayed out of view until he was further down the block and then she slipped silently out the door to follow him. She stayed as far back as she could without losing sight of him, ducking behind buildings and abandoned cars. The man poked inside a few buildings, leaving his son outside the door. From the places he was looking, Jessica guessed they were looking for food. The stores were getting more spaced out and a few houses were up ahead.

The man went into a house, again leaving the boy on the sidewalk outside. Jessica usually kept her girls with her, but it was a gamble either way. Take them in, a stray boogie might get them. Leave them outside and a person might try to grab them. Jessica usually took her chances with the boogies. And right now a stray one was heading for the boy. It used to be a woman and what was left of its hair was standing up in crazy chunks.

Jessica wasn't too worried for the boy, she had seen him take out a boogie down the street easily with the shovel he was carrying. But this time he seemed scared. He was crying and shaking and backing up towards the stairs. Jessica wondered what was wrong with the boy. Then his foot caught on the staircase behind him and fell backwards, dropping his shovel. Jessica cringed. That kid had better get up or the thing was going to get him. She had not planned on revealing herself to these people, but the motherly instincts she often wondered if she had kicked in and she beat it out of her hiding place like someone lit a fire under her ass. Hollering at the thing to get its attention away from the boy, she ran at it with her bat held high. She hit it hard in the side, knocking it away from the boy. Then she bashed the monsterr's head in, hitting it a few extra times to make sure it wouldn't get back up.

The boy finally recovered and started yelling for his dad. Jessica backed up, trying to commit herself to staying and meeting the man, or running away and hiding. She gripped her bat and decided to hold her ground. If the man and his son were living around here, she was going to have to deal with them sooner or later anyway. The man came running out of the house, his gun up. When he saw Jessica, at first he thought she was the reason his son was yelling. Then Duane pointed to the body on the steps next to him. Jessica watched the man. He looked at the body, then knelt down beside it and started crying. Now it was all making sense. The boy being so upset and afraid. This must be someone they knew.

"I'm sorry," Jessica stammered, "it was going to kill him if I didn't get it." Apologizing for saving someone's life felt wrong somehow, but the man seemed so upset she didn't know what else to say. The man collected himself and pulled away from the body, hugging his son to his chest. Then he stood up and moved towards Jessica. She took a few quick steps back. The man stopped and held out his hand. He could tell the woman was scared. She was looking at his hand like it was a poisonous snake. Her hair was the brightest shade of red he had ever seen. The sun was shining through it, lighting it up like it was on fire. She had full hips and a thin waist. Her shoulders and the bridge of her nose were sunburnt and the rest of her was covered in freckles. For a moment, he thought she might bolt and take off running. But then she shouldered up and closed the few steps between them, taking his hand in hers. She felt a shock when she touched him that hit her all the way to her toes. She licked her lips, which were all of the sudden feeling very dry.

"Jessica," she said. The man repeated her name. He had a soft gentle voice.

"Thank you for saving my son," he told her, still holding her hand. The skin of his palm felt rough but his touch was soft. He smiled a little at her and then spoke again. "My name is Morgan."


	9. Chapter 9

Alexandria

Before he was out of bed, Rick could tell it was going to be the kind of day where the heat and the humidity were going to be oppressive. He leaned over and switched on the fan he kept next to the bed, grateful for the electricity and concerned at the same time that his people were getting too used to it. The blankets were feeling oddly heavy, and he looked down and realized part of the reason why he was so hot was that Beth had kicked them off in her sleep and they were doubled up on top of him. He pulled the sheet out, untangling it from the blanket, and then tossed the blanket down by the foot of the bed and covered them both up with the sheet.

The first night he had slept in all his clothes, with even his boots on and laced up. Everyone had, everyone except RickyJo. She had gone right up and slept in the room she had picked out. _If they are coming to kill me then I am dying comfortable._ That woman could be a real pain in the ass sometimes. But other times she made a valid point. These people were weak and very unprepared for the attack from another group that would inevitably happen, but they had no plans to hurt or kill him or any of the members of his group.

Beth was still asleep, her breathing slow and even. Her hair had come loose from the elastic she usually tied it up in at night and it was spread out all around her head in a wild curly tangle. He pulled her close, touching her face where it had been scarred from her stay at the hospital. Those people had gotten exactly what they deserved. He wondered how the wards were doing by themselves now that they had the run of the place. That day had been the day they got Beth back but it had also been the day that he finally started considering Merle a viable part of the group and not just someone to be tolerated because he was associated with Daryl and RickyJo. If he hadn't come up with the idea to have Noah allow himself to be recaptured, the wards would not have been ready for the attack and Beth might have been caught in the crossfire and killed.

Rick still wondered about all the time that Beth had spent alone with Daryl after the prison fell. She had assured him multiple times that nothing sexual had happened between them, but there was always that nagging doubt in his mind. Daryl had been a complete wreck after RickyJo had left with his brother, just like Rick had been after Lori had left him for Shane. And Beth had been so kind and compassionate. Since she had been gone, Rick could see something had changed in her. And he hoped it was just her sobering experience at the hospital, and not anything to do with the time she spent with Daryl. The old Beth never would have appoved of him and Carol stealing those guns. In fact, he wasn't sure if he was even going to tell her he was planning to do it, until she overheard them and then offered to help. After they freed her from the hospital, it took Rick a few days to notice the change in her. She had become a woman since he saw her last. And while sometimes he missed the sweet hopeful girl that he had fallen in love with, having a partner instead of a dependant was he something felt he could easily get used to.

And if he had to have a partner, he could not have picked a more attractive one. Even Lori in her youth could not hold a candle to Beth. And when he married Lori, he had thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Lately, Beth had taken to sleeping in his extra tshirts. And there was something about her in the big loose white shirts that fell just low enough to cover her hips that drove him crazy. He slid his hand up under the one she ahd on now and started rubbing her back in slow soft circles. She had already been hovering on the egde of sleep, and the gentle touch on her back pulled her out of the pleasing dreams she had been having. Beth rolled over onto her back and wrapped her arms around Rick, pulling him close and kissing him. He kept his hand under her shirt, rubbing her stomach. He was moving down to kiss her neck when she started laughing.

"Does that tickle?," he asked her.

"No," she told him, "we have an audience." He popped his head up to follow her gaze and then started laughing himself. Judith was standing up, gripping the side of her playpen and staring at them with her big blue baby eyes. When she saw they were looking at her, she clapped her hands in delight.

"I can take her down to RickyJo and come back," Beth offered. Rick thought about her offer. Lingering in bed with Beth always sounded like a good idea. But then he remembered about the guns and needing to talk to RickyJo. Since they got to Alexandria, RickyJo had been bitching daily to anyone that was willing to listen about how mad she was at these people for taking her gun. Her major complaint seeemed to be that she had her own gun since she was ten and it was complete crap that she wasn't allowed to have one. His personal favorite comment had been the one about Deanna and how she was completely unamerican. Abraham had laughed so hard at that his face had turned almost as red as his hair.

"No," Rick said regetfully, "I will go. I need to give her that gun anyway." Beth laughed. When Carol had stole guns for them, she had snagged an extra one for RickyJo. _If giving this to her doesn't shut her up, I am going to slap her in the mouth with it._ Beth had not been sure if Carol was serious or joking, but it had been funny either way. Carol might be good at killing sick people but if it came to a scrap, RickyJo would mop the floor with her. The only woman in the group that would have a chance against RickyJo in a physical fight would be Michonne. It was probably a good thing that the two of them got along, though it had been a little dicey there for a minute when RickyJo had thought there was something going on between Michonne and Daryl.

Rick got up and pulled his pants on over his boxers. Beth started making little whiny puppy noises, which he knew meant come back to bed. He leaned down and gave her a lingering kiss, then stood up and picked up his daughter. He knew she was really Shane's, but she was still Carl's sister and Rick had been coming to think of her more and more as his. He knew it would make Shane happy to know that Rick was looking after Judith. Judith hugged his neck and gave him a sloppy baby kiss on the cheek. RickyJo had been teaching the babies to give kisses, and while MJ would only hand his out to her, Merle, or occasionally Abraham, Judith handed hers out to everyone.

RickyJo was feeling lazy. Merle had gotten up a while ago and left with Abraham. She had thought about getting up and then decided to laze around a while, playing and cuddling with her son. Also, she was avoiding Daryl. There was a soft knock at her door that she was hoping wasn't him. She heard Rick's voice and got up to fling the door open.

"I have someone here that would like to see you," he told her, holding Judith out for her to take. RickyJo snatched her up and pulled her shirt down so she could start feeding her. She went to shut the door but Rick stopped her. "I have something else for you too," he said. Then he reached behind his back and pulled out a gun. RickyJo looked at it but didn't take it.

"Did you snag that or did Deanna say you could have it?," RickyJo asked. She thought since Rick was some kind of cop, maybe he had control of the guns now.

"Carol snagged it," he said. RickyJo cracked a big smile. Then to his surprise she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside the room, kicking the door shut behind him. Rick felt a little awkward, being in her room alone with her, with the door shut. And she really wasn't wearing any clothes either, just a big shirt and some little cotton shorts that were so short the underside of her ass was showing. She walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer, then stepped back so he could have a look. Well he would be goddamned if there weren't two guns in there and a ton of extra clips and ammunition. How long had she had those?

"Had them since the morning after we got here," she said. Rick looked at her in disbelief.

"You have been complaining every day about not having a gun," he told her. She laughed.

"Yeah, because otherwise everyone would know I already had one," she told him. RickyJo always had a way of explaining things that made you feel like the biggest idiot on earth for not already knowing what she was telling you.

"Merle know about this?," he asked.

"Yeah," she said in the same tone, the tone that said you Rick are a fucking dumbass, "who do you think helped me steal them." Now he was laughing. He had to know how they pulled that off.

"How did he help you?," Rick asked. She smiled so big he wasn't sure if he wanted to know after all. What the hell had the two of them been up to. RickyJo was so much more well behaved when she had Daryl to reign her in. She and Shane had done some crazy things, but Shane had been more predictable than Merle.

"He distracted that Olivia girl," RickyJo said. Rick could tell she was having a hard time even saying that without laughing.

"Distracted?," he asked. What the hell did she mean by that. He hoped Merle hadn't hurt or threatened that girl. That could really cause problems for them if Deanna found out. RickyJo could tell by the look on Rick's face what he was thinking.

"He didn't fucking hurt her," she announced indignantly.

"What did he do then?" RickyJo had her big cat ate the canary smile on again.

"He hit on her," she said. Now she couldn't stop herself from laughing while she tried to tell the rest. This was a good one and she had been waiting to tell someone. "He thought she would be all creeped out but she was totally DTF. He had to make out with her." Now Rick was laughing a little. But there was something he didn't understand.

"Whats DTF?," he asked her.

"You don't know what DTF means?," RickyJo asked him, "Aren't you dating a twelve year old?" Now she was really going, laughing at the story about Merle and the look on Rick's face. He was too easy to get a rise out of, it almost took the fun out of it. She took pity on him and decided to answer his question. "It means Down To Fuck honey," she said. Now he felt a little stupid for not figuring it out. RickyJo touched him lightly on the arm. "You know I am just teasing about you and Beth," she said, "I think you make a great couple."

"I know," he said. Really he had not known. He was a little sensitve about Beth's age and was a little paranoid that people might not approve of the relationship. RickyJo could see his feelings might actually be a little hurt, which had not been her intention. She had only been teasing.

"You know there is a bigger age difference between me and Merle than there is between you and Beth," she told him. Actually it was only one more year, but she thought that might make Rick feel better, which it did. He was also surprised. Not only about what she had told him, but that her and Beth had clearly talked about this already.

"How old are you?," he asked. He knew RickyJo looked young, but with all the degrees and crap she had, he had assumed she was older than she looked.

"Twenty nine," she said. He thought she was a bit older than that. Then he thought about the rest of what she had just said.

"How old is Merle?," he asked her, trying to do the math in his head.

"Old enough to know better," she quipped. Rick smiled and turned to head back to his own room. RickyJo took Judith and headed back to bed to lay down and finish feeding her. When Rick got into the doorway she called to him. She guessed since the cat was out of the bag she might as well tell the whole truth.

"By the way," she said casually, "Sammie and Carl already have guns too." Rick shook his head. There was nothing he could do except laugh. He shut the door and headed back to his room to see if Beth was still waiting for him in bed.

RickyJo was still feeding Juidth when she heard lots of loud noises coming from outside on the street. It sounded like someone driving a large truck or some kind of tractor. She flung out of bed and threw on some clothes, then grabbed the babies and headed outside. When she hit the porch and saw what was on the street, her eyes flew open. She had asked for some dirt and she guessed she had got what she asked for. What she had in mind was a few bags of potting soil, and this was a pile taller than she was and twice as wide. She could see Jessie across the street was out on her porch laughing and then the woman called across to her.

"I guess we have some garden beds to build," she said. RickyJo nodded and laughed. Abraham had pulled away with the first dump truck and Tobin was backing a second one in down the street a little ways from the dirt pile. God that better not be more dirt, RickyJo thought. When the truck tipped up and dumped, it was not dirt but a huge load of bricks and concrete blocks. Then he got out of the truck and walked over with four huge rolls of chicken wire. He smiled at RickyJo and tossed them down near the steps of the porch.

"Got everything you need now?," he asked her. She nodded and thanked him, then he headed off to get back in the truck and pull away. Jessie walked over, skirting the giant dirt pile, and came up on the porch. She reached over and relieved RickyJo of one of the babies. The women just stood there staring at the giant piles, trying to take it all in. They had all the supplies, now all they needed was a few more sets of hands. This was going to be a lot of work.

"Lets do your front yard first," RickyJo suggested. Jessie nodded.

"I will go get the shovels and the wheelbarrow," she said. RickyJo nodded. No time like the present, they might as well get started.

A few hours and many loads of dirt later, the girls decided to break for lunch. Beth had brought one of the playpens down from inside and had pulled it over into a shady area of the yard. Judith and MJ were inside of it napping, their little fingers crusted with dirt and mud from all the fun they had helping with the garden. Jessie's sons had even come over and done a little work. The younger one was showing a lot of interest so RickyJo told him they would put another bed in his yard that he could be responsible for.

They were all sitting on the back porch, eating the meal Carol had made for them and making conversation when RickyJo was suddenly up on her feet shushing everyone up. It was that noise again. She thought she heard a horse outside the walls the day before, but now she was sure. Setting her plate down, she asked Beth to keep an eye on the babies and then bolted towards the wall. The other girls were yelling at her to stop. She didn't even have a gun on her. Jessie watched in disbelief as the woman ignored them and scaled the wall like a monkey. Then she swung her long legs over the top and disappeared.

Daryl had not slept well. He had no desire to see RickyJo after their fight the night before so he had gotten his bow and decided to go hunting. They could always use the meat, and it was a good excuse to be gone for most of the day. He couldn't decide if he was mad at himself or mad at her. He didn't regret having sex with her, but what happened after that had been pretty ugly. Not only was she not going to want to be with him, after last night he was going to be lucky if she would even speak to him. He was trying to think of something he could say to her to make it better, but nothing was coming to mind. She appeared to be happy with his brother. If he really loved her, maybe he ought to just leave her alone. But that's what he had done after Mexico, and it had all turned out to be a big misunderstanding. If he had talked to her then, she never would have slept with his brother in the first place. Daryl sat down and lit up a smoke. This was all making his head hurt. He heard someone behind him and in a split second he found himself on his feet pointing his bow at Aaron. Aaron put his hands up. It seemed to be the man's favorite gesture. Daryl lowered his bow and sat back down. Aaron came and sat down next to him without waiting to be invited.

"I am really sorry if I caused any problems between you and your...," he stuttered a little bit. Should he call her your brother's wife, your friend, your lady friend. "Between you and RickyJo," he finished. Daryl shrugged. There were plenty of problems between him and RickyJo, none of which had been caused by Aaron.

"Do you want to talk about it?," Aaron asked, "I'm a good listener." From what Daryl had seen the man was mostly good at running his mouth. A lot. Daryl shook his head. Aaron continued anyway. "Being in love with your brother's wife must be a tough situation to be in," he said.

"She's not his wife," Daryl said. Aaron was about to ask another question when he saw the horse again. He had been trying to catch that stupid horse for months. Whenever he came out to hunt, he brought rope just in case. Forgetting Daryl's romantic problems for the moment, Aaron got on his feet and started moving slowly towards the animal. He felt Daryl's hand on his arm and Daryl reached over and took the rope from him. He got it into a large noose and held it in the proper way to catch the animal. Then he started trying to get close. He was talking to the horse softly, trying to calm it down and keep it still. It must have had an owner at some point. If they got it inside the walls they could probably tame it back down. And it had crossed his mind as soon as he saw it that RickyJo loved animals, especially horses. He got close enough to touch its nose when he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye.

RickyJo had been following the horse since it had been outside the wall right by the house. Now that it was distracted by Daryl, she saw the perfect opportunity to catch hold of it. She jumped out of the bush she was hiding behind and ran full speed at the horse, grabbing it's mane and pulling herself up onto its back in one fluid motion. The horse reared up, hooves in Daryl's face, nearly decapitating and castrating him simultaneously. He fell back onto his ass. The horse bucked again, but RickyJo held on, gripping the mane in her hands and squeezing tightly to the sides of the horse with her thighs. Then the horse dropped back down onto all fours and started running. Aaron watched with wide eyes and the horse took off with the woman in its back. Her hair was flying out behind her and for a moment she looked like some kind of fabled mythological creature that was half woman and half horse.

She let the horse run some of its energy out before she started trying to direct it. At first she tried using the mane, but then found guiding it with the pressure of her legs worked better. Soon they were trotting along the road, heading for the front gate. RickyJo patted the horse. Thats right, she thought, me and you are going to be good friends. Spencer saw her coming and opened the gate up as wide as it would go. Several people had tried to catch the horse before, but none had been successsful. He was impressed and gave her a little wave as she went past. RickyJo rode the horse right back to her house and around to the back yard where the girls were still standing around arguing about what they should do about her taking off. The looks on their faces were absolutely priceless.

RickyJo swung down and went to get a big bucket. She filled it with some clean water from the hose to give the horse a drink. Then she ran into the house and grabbed all the vegetables she could find, bringing them outside and offering them to her new friend. Now that he had been pet and watered and fed, the horse showed no desire to leave the yard. He had been cold and wet and hungry long enough. Unlike the bad people he had seen outside that had smelled like death and tried to hurt him, this woman had treated him kindly, just like the one that had raised him from a small foal.

With the excitement over, the girls went back to working on the garden. Beth laughed at the horse, who was now not only happy to stay with them, but was following RickyJo around like a little puppy. It even tried to walk right up the porch steps and into the house after her. And it kept coming up on the sides of her, trying to butt its head up under her arms for her to hold it. It had knocked her full wheelbarrow over twice doing this and made her curse like a sailor.

Daryl was following the horses tracks, expecting at every turn that he would find RickyJo laying there dead with her damn neck broke. When the tracks led out to the road, he couldn't follow them anymore. At Aaron's suggestion, he decided to go back to town and see if she was there. Spencer told them at the gate that she was back and Daryl rushed towards the house to check on her. When he got there, she was out in the front yard, holding MJ up so he could pet the horse. Daryl felt a sudden flush of anger, partly because she had leaped on the horse when it was so close to him, but mostly because she had put herself in danger and made him worry. She had been outside the walls, alone, with no weapon, and she had jumped onto the back a wild animal with no regard for her own safety.

"What the hell were you thinking?," he demanded loudly. RickyJo turned and cocked her hand up on her hip, looking at him like he was the dumbest man alive.

"I was thinking I wanted to catch this horse," she said. What right did Daryl have to lecture her about safety. He was the one that was talking about leaving this place and going back out on the road.

"You could have been hurt," he practically screamed at her. He didn't like her putting herself in danger, and he liked the flippant little attitude she was giving him even less. Also MJ was pointing at him and shaking his head. That fucking kid drove him crazy. RickyJo was getting as pissed as he was. Not only because he was yelling at her and thinking he could boss her around, but also because of the crap he had said to her the night before.

"What the fuck do you care if I get hurt," she yelled back, "the last time I was hurt you couldn't even be bothered to fucking speak to me." Until it came out of her mouth, she hadn't been consciously aware of how upset she still was about what happened. She had been raped and brutalized and all she had wanted at the time was someone to hold and comfort her. And Daryl had ignored her like she wasn't even there and spent all his time hunting and going out on the road with Michonne. And now he wanted to leave again. "Go ahead and fucking leave," she yelled at him, "I hope you never come back!" With that she turned and ran inside the house, leaving Daryl and the horse staring after her.


	10. Chapter 10

Jessica and Morgan

Duane was crotched on the ground, his back hunched and his faced wrinkled up with intense concentration. The fishing hook was pinned between his knees and he had a firm grasp on the worm with the thumb and index finger of both hands. He had never fished before but he didn't want these girls to know that, especially when they seemed so confident in what they were doing. Cassie was watching the boy out of the corner of her eye. She had never seen someone take so long to bait a hook in her whole life. Handing her pole to her sister, she took a few steps closer to Duane and knelt beside him to see what was taking him so long. Then she started laughing. Not just a little giggle or a smile, but fall on your ass and grip your sides belly laughing.

Jessica tipped her hat back and looked over at her daughter. She had not seen either of the girls laugh in such a long time that at first the noise had startled her. And Cassie had always had the exact same laugh as RickyJo. From the look on Duane's face, Jessica guessed he was the reason her daughter was laughing. The boy looked embarassed and ashamed. Jessica guessed he would be red in the face from blushing if he wasn't so dark complected. She handed her pole to Desiree who was now juggling all three fishing poles and trying not to get the lines tangled. Morgan reached over and took one of them off her hands. He noticed the girls had stopped flinching away from him when he came close to them, and that made him happy. Unless he needed to hand or take something from one of them, he made sure to give them their space just in case. None of them had said what happened to them, but clearly it was something that made them scared and nervous around men.

"What is so funny?," Jessica asked Cassie. Cassie looked up to see her mother with her hands on her hips, looking angry. She guessed it was a little rude to laugh at Duane like that but what he had been doing had just been so funny, she had not been able to help herself. Choking off the end of her laughter and wiping at her eyes, Cassie tried to explain.

"He was trying to tie the worm on the hook like it was a piece of string," she said. Even Morgan grinned at this, but he tried to turn his head so his son wouldn't see. He didn't know much about fishing himself, but at least he had been able to figure out that the hook went through the worm. Jessica bent down and took the worm from Duane, threading it on the the hook with a practiced hand. Then she gave Cassie what she hoped was a very dirty look and headed back to take her pole from Morgan.

"Sorry I laughed at you," Cassie told Duane. He finally recovered enough to laugh a little at himself.

"I guess it was kind of funny," he admitted.

"Haven't ya ever been fishing before?," she asked him. He shook his head. "Really?" Cassie had never met anyone that didn't know how to go fishing. She felt bad for the boy. Fishing was fun. "I kin show you what to do," she offered, "if ya want." He smiled at her. He thought maybe he might like that. It was better than getting laughed at, that was for sure. And he liked the way these girls talked. He had never met a black cowgirl before but that's what he had decided this girl must be. She even had a cowboy hat she wore to keep the sun out of her eyes. Cassie took her pole back from her sister and headed a little further upstream with Duane where the water was a little deeper and it would be easier for him not to snag on the bottom of the creek.

"That's far enough," Morgan warned them. He didn't like the kids getting out of sight. He watched his son with the young girl. Duane wasn't really old enough to really take interest in girls yet, but Morgan guessed he would be soon enough. And even he could admit that the young girl with his son was going to be a beauty. She looked just like her mother, except for her coloring, which gave her almost an exotic look. They even had the same wild curly hair, though the girl's was a shiny jet black. Her eyes were bright like her mother's though they were amber colored instead of blue. She had a patch of freckles across her nose and that long leggy baby deer look that young girls got right before they started to mature. His son could do a lot worse, that was certain.

"Have you really never been fishing with him before," Jessica asked Morgan, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"No," he said with a smal chuckle, "we are genuine city boys." Jessica laughed. She was pretty, but when she smiled or laughed, her face really lit up. Morgan was becoming quite fond of her, but he had been married so long it still felt a little like cheating. And he didn't want to make her feel forced into anything, just because they were sticking together to help each other out. But it wasn't hurting anyone for him to simply look at her. She had that old ratty cowboy hat on again, the white one she wore to keep the sun off. He had seen cowboy hats before, but never one that looked worn and well loved like the one she wore. It was even unravelling a little on one side where it had been stepped on by a horse. Morgan had never met a woman who rode horses. His wife had been so scared of animals she had ran out of the house half dressed and into the street screaming once because there was a bat in the house. He had not been home so she had called 911 and told them they better come and get it.

Morgan found Jessica to be a very mysterious and almost alien creature. She looked like something that walked out of a country music video. He had known hillbilly women existed, but before he met Jessica he had guessed they were all dirty and missing most of their teeth. And the fact that she had two obviously biracial children made him curious. He wondered what her family had thought about that. He also wondered what the father was like. All he could picture was the black cowboy from Blazing Saddles.

"I got one," Duane shouted, "I got a fish!" He was holding up the line on the end of his pole where a sizable fish was dangling. Cassie took the pole from him and handed him hers, then she grabbed a rag and used it to hold the fish while she got the hook back out of it's mouth. Then she plunked it into the cooler they had filled half up with water. Duane came over to admire his catch.

"Just a few more like this'un and we will be eatin' good tonight," Cassie told him. Duane swelled with pride. His father smiled at him. Mogan was glad Duane had caught the first fish. It more than made up for his embarrassment with the worm earlier.

The fishing went quickly after that. Everyone caught a fish except Cassie. She didn't really mind, since she had been helping Duane, she figured she could claim half credit on the ones he caught. On the way back, Morgan noticed Jessica stop and start pulling up plants out of the ground. She explained to him that they were garlic chives. Then he saw the girls picking all the leaves off some dandelions. Cassie stood up from the plants, her posture suddenly alert. Morgan looked around, thinking there might be some danger, but then he saw she had the bow she carried pointed at the ground. He couldn't see anything there, but when she loosed the arrow, it hit a rabbit and sent another one leaping away.

"Whoa,' Duane exclaimed, "good shot." Cassie smiled. She knew she was a good shot, but she liked to hear people say it anyway.

"Since ya never been fishin' I expect ya don't know how to skin a rabbit either," she said to Duane. He shook his head. The only rabbit he had ever been close to was a pet one that his friend Bobby had kept in a cage in his room. Cassie yanked the arrow out of the rabbit and then got her knife out. As she went, she explained to Duane what she was doing. "First ya gotta make sure its dead." She grabbed it by the back legs and held it up, then braced it against a tree and cut its head off in a fluid motion. Now there was no doubt the rabbit was dead. Duane was a little grossed out but he tried not to show it. "Then you cut the feet off." She bent each one a little at an angle and sliced them off with her knife. "Then you skin it. Got to make a cut in the fur but ya got to be careful not to cut down into the meat." She sliced into the fur on the back, then gripped it firmly and pulled, ripping all the fur off in two sections that she tossed away into the bushes. "Then you take the guts out." She cut a shallow line along the belly and then held the rabbit up by the back and squeezed gently, letting the organs and the intestines out and letting them plop in the ground. "Thats it," she announced. Jessica opened the cooler so she could toss it in with the fish they had already gutted out down by the creek.

Cassie washed her hands off with some water from a bottle and then went back to helping her sister pick the dandelion greens. Duane stared after her, and then looked down at the rabbit guts and feet. He had been impressed with how much Cassie knew about fishing, but now he was slightly in awe of her. And a little scared. She had guttted that rabbit without any guilt or care for the animal. He felt his dad's hand on his back, lending a comforting touch.

"When you grow up on a farm," Morgan explained to the boy, "butchering animals is part of daily life." Morgan had been impressed with the girl's display and had tried to watch her carefully, despite how fast she moved. He wouldn't mind knowing how to do that himself. Though he wasn't sure if he was a good enough shot to get a rabbit in the first place. The more he knew about these girls, the more he felt like he wanted to know. Even if they ended up parting ways, he felt he should take the opportunity to learn what he could from them. As he watched the girls carefully relieve each plant of its leaves, something near the edge of the grass caught his eye.

Jessica was keeping watch over her girls and Duane, who had knelt down to start helping them. She felt Morgan's hand, touching her gently on the shoulder to get her attention. He held out a small bunch of flowers. At first she wasn't sure what he was doing. She thought maybe he wanted to know if they were edible. But the soft way he was looking at her. He was giving her flowers. No man had ever given her flowers before. The only ones she had ever gotten were from her cousin. RickyJo used to send her a big bouquet every year on her birthday. She reached over and took them, holding them up and smelling them. They were periwinkle blue. Morgan watched the look of surprise cross Jessica's face as he handed her the flowers. Surely a woman this beautiful had gotten flowers many times before. Maybe she didn't think of him in a romantic way and thats why she looked so shocked. Then she seemed to recover and she looked up at him with a softness in her face that he had only seen when she was looking at her daughters.

"I have never gotten flowers before," she admitted. Morgan raised his eyebrows at her. Was she being coy, or was she serious. He had a hard time believing that she had never gotten any. Not even a prom corsage. He used to get his wife flowers every week. Then she touched his arm and leaned in slowly, giving him time to move back if he didn't want her that close. She lifted up on her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you," she said softly into his ear. Then she backed away quickly. "Come on girls," she said, "you got enough salad greens to choke a dang gone horse. Lets go home and fry up these fish." Cassie and Desiree smiled up at her, then looked down at the large bunch of greens that were now filling Cassie's hat. They definitely had enough for diner, and probably enough for breakfast too. And Cassie liked the way she said _home_ instead of _back to the building_ or _back to camp._ With Duane and his father there it was starting to feel more like home and less like just another hiding place.

Jessica tucked the blankets in around the sleeping children and fished out the flashlight so she could turn it off and save the batteries. The three of them had been on the bed reading comics together and had fallen asleep with the girls on either side and Duane in the middle sandwiched between them. For a moment it made her uncomfortable to have her girls sleeping in bed with a friend of the opposite sex, but she knew she had a while longer before sex would rear its ugly head and she would really need to start worrying. At Cassie's age she had been obsessed with boys, but she knew her daughter was much more innocent and she was grateful every day for that. Looking at her daughter, she found it hard to believe that she had only been about a year older than her when she had gotten pregnant the first time. She looked so young. Too young. Jessica wondered now why she had been in such a big hurry. She wanted to keep her girls innocent as long as she could.

Seeing that the children were tucked safely away, Jessica headed back up to the roof. The dark windowless stairwell always scared her just a little. Closing the door made her think of the door on a coffin closing with her inside, and she rubbed at her arms a little despite the stale warmth of the air. She should have brought the damn flashlight with her. But even without the light, she knew the way well enough by now, letting the handrail lead her up and to the door that led to the roof. The light cover of gravel crunched under her boots and she ducked the laundry they had hanging on a line to dry. Hanging the laundry had scared Jessica. She had been worried it would wave like a flag and someone would see it and come for them. So Morgan had booby trapped the place. _Anyone busting in here is going to get a real nice surprise._ She had laughed at the traps, but she had to admit, they made her feel so much safer. Now they could all sleep at night, without anyone having to stay up and keep watch.

Morgan was sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on a small plastic table, sipping something out of a mug. She took the seat next to him, and he handed her a mug he had waiting for her. She expected alcohol, but when she took a sip, she found it was no more than instant hot cocoa. The nights were getting colder and colder, and the warm liquid was welcome to ward off the chill in the air. She pulled her knees up into her chair, wishing she grabbed her sweater or a blanket when she had been down checking on the kids. Without a word, Morgan pulled his jacket off and handed it over to her. Jessica took it gratefully and set her cocoa down so she could put it on. She wrapped it around her, not bothering to zip it, and found that it had a pleasant lingering manly smell. She pulled the collar up and pressed it gently to her face, breathing in the smell. She had always loved the way men smelled. She guessed everyone had something weird they liked to do that they didn't like anyone to know about, and hers was waiting until the guy she fucked was in the bathroom and then grabbing his pillow and getting a good sniff. It was a little bizarre, she knew, but she guessed there were people with much more disgusting habits than that.

"Don't smell that too hard," Morgan warned her with a grin, "I wasn't wearing deodorant today." Jessica smiled and picked her cocoa back up.

"I think you smell good," she told him. It was true. She had noticed that he smelled good even when he was sweaty, though she had been trying not to think too much about it. For someone as sexually active as she had been before the outbreak, she felt like it had been ages since she had been laid. She was to the point where she tried not to even think about sex. And since Morgan showed up that had been getting harder and harder. He was much more quiet and sedate than the kind of men she would usually go for. But as she got to know him better, Jessica found she enjoyed being around a man that wasn't constantly shooting his mouth off just to hear himself talk. And he was good with her girls. He never stared at them too long or in the wrong way and he watched out for them. And for her. She had been scared at first to leave him alone with them, even just to go to the bathroom. But now she had no hesitations about it at all.

Morgan reached over and took one of her hands of the mug of cocoa so he could hold it. Then he just sat there holding it. Jessica waited for him to grab her or try to kiss her, but he didn't. He just held her hand, rubbing it gently with his thumb. She wasn't worried, if she had to she would make the first move. But for now she thought she might wait him out and see what he did. After all, there was nothing wrong with taking it slow.


	11. Chapter 11

Alexandria

All the things she should have said were hanging on her lips as she listened to the sound of Daryl's motorcycle getting further and further away. She wished she could write them all down on little pieces of paper and let them float away in the wind. That she thought she might be pregnant. And if she was she was sure it was his. That she had been dreaming every night about the beach in Mexico. She should have told him she loved him. And needed him. She should have begged him to stay. But instead she said nothing, not even goodbye. She had stood on the sidwalk holding her son and just watched him leave. Now RickyJo had a sinking feeling in her stomach. And her heart was beating in her chest like a wild flapping bird. If something bad happened to him out there it was going to be all her fault for letting him leave.

She held her son and hugged him tight. When she looked down the street, she saw the church. RickyJo had never really been to church. Her grandfather had not been a religious man. While he had never come out and explained it all, she knew enough to know that his father had been fanatically religious and had used that as an excuse to beat his children regularly. But the church seemed to be drawing her. RickyJo needed a quiet place to sit and think and some advice and comforting words from someone not directly involved in her situation. She walked inside the small building. It looked nice and it was quiet and cool inside. She let MJ get down so he could explore and then she walked up towards the front of the room.

She wasn't really sure what to do so she sat down in one of the chairs. Her son was spooked by the big empty room and he came running over to climb up in her lap. MJ was pawing at her shirt so she pulled it down to nurse him. Then she started trying to sort out her thoughts and emotions. Father Gabriel walked out of his office and saw the woman sitting there. He knew everyone seemed to like her fine, but RickyJo made him very uncomfortable. She always had her breasts out and made no attempt to cover them when she fed her baby. Even being in the lord's house didn't seem to affect her. And she had so many tattoos, it was clear she had lived a very sinful life. And everyone knew she had sex with both Daryl and his brother. Here she was trying to tempt even him into having lustful thoughts. Well it wasn't going to work. Since she wasn't going to leave on her own, he figured he better find out what she wanted.

Merle had been with the contruction crew all morning. Things were going much smoother now that Abraham was in charge. The guy before him had not been all bad, but like all these people he was jumpy and scared of the biters. Merle had not been able to believe that they had been so quick to abandon one of their own people. That kind of bullshit would not have been acceptable even in Woodbury. That Tobin guy had at least had the balls to man up and step down as leader. Merle had been surprised about that. Most men he knew would not have given up a position of power so easily.

Things had been going well all morning, and the team had gotten so much done they decided to break and go back home for lunch. Merle was glad since he wanted to go back home and check on RickyJo. She had been acting a little off lately. He couldn't put his finger on it, but she just seemed sad. He had also noticed that she and Daryl had not been speaking to each other. This made him nervous because it meant that they had been fighting, which meant that they had something to fight about.

Merle walked towards the house and went up the stairs and into the living room. Jessie from next door was sitting on the couch, holding his son. And RickyJo had her head in the woman's lap, just sobbing her eyes out. Merle assumed this was because Daryl left. His brother had stopped by the site on his way out. Merle kneeled down.

"He will be okay," he told RickyJo,"Daryl can take care of Daryl." He was surprised when Jessie spoke up.

"Thats not what shes upset about," the woman said. Merle leaned back on his heel and looked at her. She had his attention.

"Just let it be Jessie," RickyJo told her.

"No," Jessie said. "RickyJo went to see that preacher. Gabriel. She wanted someone to talk to. And that horrible little man said all kinds of nasty things to her." Now Merle was getting pissed off.

"What in the hell did he say to you," he asked RickyJo. She tried to mop up her face a little.

"Nothing just forget it," she said. She had already told Jessie and she didn't want to have to repeat the horrible things again. And Merle was just going to get mad and then do something crazy. Jessie spoke up again.

"He told her god was punishing her for being a fornicator and a sinner. He said god took her family because she didn't deserve them after she had been eating human flesh. And he told her she was a lustful woman for having her baby out of wedlock. He said she brought everything that happened to her down on herself for living in sin," Jessie said. She was so mad about what the man had said she was ready to punch his face in herself. This poor woman had been raped and held hostage by cannibals and had her face slashed and had to give birth in a prison cell and thats what that man was going to say to her. From what Jessie had seen, RickyJo was a kind and generous person. She was a wonderful and caring mother. That man was a disgusting prude who needed his head examined. Who even cared these days if someone had a baby before they got married. That was like straight out of the 1950's.

Merle looked at Jessie and then at RickyJo's red splotchy face. She was leaning back on the couch now, and MJ had crawled over and was hugging her around the neck. Wrapping her arms around him, she hugged him tightly. Merle got up and stalked out of the house. Apparently there was someone around here that needed a talking to. Who did that asshole preacher think he was, talking to his wife like that. That fucking guy let his entire congregation die outside because he was too scared to open a door. If RickyJo had been there she would have done everything she could to save every single one of those people. And then to imply that she was a whore. She was a fucking virgin until she was twenty six years old for christ sake.

Father Gabriel looked up to see Merle in the doorway of the church. The man did not look happy. He started thinking about the things he had said earlier to this man's wife. She must have gone back and told him. This was not going to go well.

"What can I do for you?," Gabriel asked the man. Merle walked in, getting closer and closer to the man. Then he spoke to him very quietly.

"What in the fuck you say to my wife?," Merle asked him. The man didn't answer. He just kept backing up and stammering like an idiot. This guy was really a pussy of the worst kind. He had the balls to talk all that shit to RickyJo but he wasn't going to say shit now. Merle pulled his arm back. First he had meant to punch the asshole out but then he changed his mind and slapped him hard across the face like the little bitch he was. The man fell to the floor like the little pussy he was, crying and sniveling. Then he started scrambling towards the door. Merle followed him until he was in the doorway at the top of the steps and then he gave the fucker a hard kick in the ass, sending him flying out the door and down the steps when he skidded out on the pavement.

There were some people across the street and one of them screamed. Then they ran off yelling for Deanna. Merle didn't care. He waited until the man tried to get up and kicked him again. Michonne and Sasha came running down the street from the direction the people had taken off in. Merle figured he was only going to get one more good hit before they got there so he grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and dragged him up off the ground.

"You don't talk to RickyJo, you don't even look at her," he told the man, "you fucking understand me?" The man nodded like a bobblehead. Merle let him go and then cocked his arm back and punched his fucking face in. The man hit the ground like a sack of flour. Michonne was coming at him so Merle stepped back and held his hands up. No way did he want to get kicked in the balls again by that bitch.

"What the hell are you doing?," Michonne yelled at him.

"Fucker deserved it," he told her, "said a bunch of shitty things to RickyJo. Told her it was her fault she got raped because she was acting like a slut." Sasha was on the ground checking Father Gabriel's pulse.

"Are you serious?," she asked.

"You think I made that shit up?," Merle spit at her. Michonne just shook her head. If Gabriel had said all that he had been on the recieving end of a well deserved ass beating as far as she was concerned. And she doubted Merle would make something like that up. Now Deanna and a bunch of her moron groupies were running down the street.

"What is going on here?," Deanna asked.

"They were fighting," Michonne told her, pointing to the two men. Merle was surprised Michonne seemed to be covering for him a little. He figured she would be the first one to throw him under the bus. "Its all under control," Michonne added. Then she turned to Merle. "Go home and stay there," she said firmly.

"Got to go back to work," he told her. She gave him an evil look.

"Then go back to work," she said, "and stay away from Father Gabriel." Merle shrugged and headed off down the street. He had said all he cared to say to the man already. Gabriel was starting to come to so Sasha and Michonne dragged him up onto his feet and put their shoulders under him. They started walking him down to the infirmary. Deanna followed them.

"This kind of behavior is not acceptable," Deanna told Michonne.

"It won't happen again," Michonne assured her. Deanna seemed content with that, and she set off to go back to whatever she had been doing before the excitement. Once she was out of earshot Sasha spoke to Michonne.

"You bet it won't happen again," she said. She guessed Gabriel was going to be pissing a little in his pants if he even looked at RickyJo again. Michonne wondered what had gotten into him in the first place. She and RickyJo had saved the man back at the church. And RickyJo had never been anything but nice to him. In fact, she had stuck up for him when other members of the group had been saying he wasn't pulling his weight. So why would he say such horrible things to her. Michonne wasn't sure but you could bet she had some questions for the man once he was awake.

Carl and Sammie had not been given jobs. They were expected to go to school in the afternoon but other than that they were free to do as they pleased. Sammie loved the horse that RickyJo had caught and they had spent most of the morning riding double on it all over town. Carl liked the horse, but not as much as he liked having Sammie close to him and being able to put his arms around her. When RickyJo saw them holding hands she had pulled the boy aside and had a few words with him. Carl still thought about what she had said to him. He wasn't sure if he understood all of it. She had told him she knew he liked Sammie, but he needed to remember that she had been through a terrible ordeal and that he needed to be considerate and gentle with her. He would never hurt Sammie, so the talk had confused him. He had been thinking on it for a few days and had finally guessed that she must have been talking about sex.

Neither of Carl's parents had ever talked to him about sex, but he had the general idea of what it was. And he had gotten a pretty good idea of what it looked like when he snuck a few peeks at the people that were having it back when they had been on the road. There were a few things he didn't understand. Like why Rosita and Maggie did not get pregnant after they had it. And why RickyJo wasn't pregnant again. He thought sex was how babies were made. And he sure did not understand why anyone would want to put their mouths on someone else's private parts. That was just disgusting. If this had still been normal life, Carl might have been able to get his answers from the internet, but with things as they were, he was left with a lot of unanswered questions.

Sammie knew what sex was. Those men had made her have it with them and it had been terrible and very very painful. At first, she was terrified for any of the women in the group that might have looked like they were thinking about having it. But she noticed they did not look scared. When she got brave enough to get a peek, she saw they did not look like they were being hurt either. If it was that terrible, she didn't think they would want to keep doing it. And she was starting to have some feelings she didn't understand. A few nights a week she would wake up from dreams with her face flushed and a throbbing feeling between her legs, wanting something and not knowing what it was.

She liked Carl and it made her feel good when he hugged her or held her hand. And when he had been riding behind her on the horse with his arms around her, she had liked that too. Carl was her friend. She trusted him and knew he would never hurt her the way those men had hurt her. Several times she had tried to talk to him about her feelings, but she didn't know where to start. They were sitting out in the back of the safe zone where there weren't any houses. The horse was grazing on grass and poking through the garden, looking for choice tidbits to nibble on. It was nice not to have to worry about the walkers, but they had been such a constant in her life for so long, Sammie almost missed them. And she was worried if she got too comfortable here, she might forget how to defend herself. Or she might stop constantly listening for them, which could get her killed just as easily.

"Want to climb over the wall and go exploring?," she asked Carl. That sounded good to Carl.

"You got your gun?," he asked her. Sammie nodded and pulled up her pantleg to show it to him. She kept it strapped to her ankle the way RickyJo had showed her.

"Got yours?," she asked. Carl nodded. He had his on an ankle holster as well. He didn't like it as much as the old holster he had used to keep it on his hip, but he knew here they had to hide the guns. "Lets go then," Sammie said. They both headed for the wall, finding it very easy to climb over and down the other side. Running around outside the walls was fun, and exciting. They saw a walker, so Sammie kicked its knee out and once it was down, Carl smashed its head in with a big rock. Then Sammie was wishing she had brought her empty pack with her. There was a while patch of wild raspberries that were ripe only a few feet away. Carl took off his hat and turned it upside down, smiling at her and they set off to pick the berries.

About a half hour later, they were sitting by a creek they found. Taking their shoes off, they dipped their feet in the cool water, eating the berries they had picked. It wasn't so scary out here. In fact, Sammie felt free out here. Back at the safe zone there were too many rules. Out here you could do whatever you wanted.

"Do you think we could make it out here if we had too?," Sammie asked Carl. He thought this over.

"I think we could if we were together," he answered. Then he reached over and took Sammie's hand. She smiled at him. Carl felt emboldened by her warm response. There was something he had been thinking about asking her for some time. He had learned from watching Daryl with RickyJo that if you didn't tell a girl how you felt, someone else might, and then she might decide she liked them better than you. When they had been on the road it had not seemed as important, but now that they were living in a community, where there were other boys around, he felt like he needed to stake his claim. "Sammie," he asked, "do you want to be my girlfriend?" Sammie did not need much time to think about that.

"Yes," she told him without hesitation. Now she was glad that she had not brought it up. It made her feel special that he had asked her instead of the other way around. But now they really weren't sure what they were supposed to do. They say there awkwardly for a moment, and then Sammie spoke up. "Do you think we should kiss now?," she asked. Carl thought for a brief instant and then nodded his head vigorously. He really did want to kiss her. Sammie brushed herself off and then turned her head towards him, tilting it slightly and closing her eyes. Carl looked at her. Her fingers and lips were stained from the berries. There was a lightly colored patch of freckles across the bridge of her nose that he had not noticed before. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail but a few stands had come loose and they were hanging down around her face. Carl took a deep breath and leaned in, closing his eyes when he got close. Their noses bumped and then his lips were pressed against hers. It felt a little weird, but not entirely unpleasant. They stayed that way for a few seconds and then he pulled his head back. Sammie opened her eyes and looked at him. Then they both started laughing.

"I think we better go back before everyone starts looking for us," she suggested.


	12. Chapter 12

Jessica and Morgan

Her eyelids fluttered open, and she shut them again, snuggling closer to the man next to her. Every morning Jessica had woken up grateful to feel his skin against hers and not to have to be wearing a sweater and two pairs of socks to keep warm at night. The building they lived in was secure, but it had no power, which meant no heat. To keep them warm, Morgan had lifted a bunch of thermal sleeping bags from a camping supply store and Jessica had taken them apart and sewn them into one huge double layer comforter. Then everyone climbed onto the biggest mattress they had and covered up with it in what Duane had offically dubbed the cuddle pile. Depending on when the last time was that anyone bathed, Cassie somtimes called it the stink pile and would try to sleep in her own bed. Some time during the night she would always get too cold and have to climb in, snuggling the warm body of her younger sister close to her.

During the winter, Cassie had become a woman, as her mother called it. She called it a disgusting mess. And she didn't want any babies, so as far as she was concerned this nasty period could go right back where it came from. As soon as it got warm enough, she had been given her own bed to sleep on, though she often got lonely or scared and crawled back in with her sister and Duane. Duane thought she was in her own bed because she might make a mess, he had no idea it was because her mother was worried that something might happen betweeen the two of them. When he had woken up and seen her laying with her sister he had been grossed out and told her to get out before she started bleeding all over. His father had taken him up on the roof after that and explained a few things to him. A few disgusting things. He didn't know what other boys liked, but having a girl bleeding nasty from her cootchie didn't make him want to put his thingy anywhere near her. He had informed his father of his feelings and the man had laughed. _You will feel different when you get a little older._ Duane wasn't so sure about that, but he just nodded his head while his father patted him on the back. Then the man had sent him down to apologize to Cassie.

Jessica lifted her head up, peeking through the slats in the small three panel room divider to make sure the kids were all still asleep, which they were. Then she lifted up, tilting her head back and leaving a little trial of kisses along Morgan's jawline, ending behind his ear. She ran her hand down his stomach and over the outside of his shorts, feeling the firm buldge under the fabric. Massaging him with her hand, she nibbled at his ear and blew on it, trying to wake him up. She propped her head up on her other hand, so she could get a look at his face. His eyes were still closed, but his lips were turned up in a tiny smirk. She leaned in and kissed him behind the ear again.

"Playing possum?," she whispered. Now she could feel his chest start to convulse with silent laughter. She resumed motion with her lower hand and felt the laughter stop. Then he let out a soft groan of enjoyment. Turning towards her slightly, he ran his hand up the outside of her thigh and over the curve of her hip. He filled his palm up with a generous helping of her ample backside, rubbing gently at first before gripping her firmly with both hands and sliding her on top of him. Clasping her with both hands, he squeezed as hard as he could without really hurting her and rocked his hips up to grind against her through the fabric of their clothes. She made one of her little mmmhhhmm noises that he knew meant she liked what he was doing and then she covered his mouth with hers, kissing him deeply.

Morgan noticed from the beginning that Jessica was different from his wife in many ways. But the biggest contrast by far was what she liked to do and be done to her when they were making love. He wasn't rude enough to comment on the matter, but he guessed Jessica had a lot more sexual experience than his wife had before he married her. His wife's idea of getting kinky had been to leave the beside lamp on while they had sex under the covers. And while she had been a willing participant, his wife had never initaited sex with him. She always waited for him to come to her. He had always thought he liked it that way and would be uncomfortable with a more sexually aggressive woman. But when he found himself in the position of being taken instead of doing the taking, he found he didn't mind it one bit. On the contrary, if felt good to know he was wanted and needed. And desired. How rough Jessica sometimes liked it took a little more getting used to. He had a hard time not feeling guilty when she woke up with bruises on her pale skin. She had laughed him off, didn't he know girls as white as her bruised up even you even breathed on them wrong. _Got kicked by a horse once, now that left a bruise._

At first he had found Jessica to be emotionally cold and withdrawn. But as the winter wore on and he watched her with her girls, he had found she just prefered to show her emotions instead of talk about them. When he tried to talk to her about how he felt about her, Morgan could tell it made her uncomfortable. She would never tell him she loved him, but she did a million little things for him each day that led him to believe she had deeper feelings for him than she wanted to admit.

Now she was grabbing at her nightshirt, pulling it off over her head so she could wrap her arms around his neck and press her breasts into his face. He braced his hands against the mattress, trying to push them both up into a sitting position. She whipped off the blanket and stepped down onto the floor, partly so he could sit up without her weight on him, and partly because that would make it easier for her to push down the little pair of boy shorts she slept in. She let them drop to the floor and then stepped out of them, reaching up with her arms and getting a good morning stretch in. When she got up she always like to stretch out, it reminded Morgan of a cat. He finished kicked his own shorts off and swung his legs over the side of the bed, leaning back on his elbows.

She eyed his impresssive morning erection, raising her eyebrows when she looked at him. Rolling her shoulders a few times, she pretended not to be affected by what she saw. Then she pounced on him, biting playfully at his neck and shoulders, her hand between her legs, guiding him inside of her. He sat up, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close. His hands moved up her back and then down again to grab at her hips, guiding her and keeping her movements slow. She rocked into him forcefully, pushing him back down onto the bed and holding herself up with her hands on his chest. Her back was arched, the dark pink tips of her nipples jutting out and bouncing with the force of her thrusts.

Then she slowed down her pace a little, sitting up and rocking her hips in a rotation. Her eyes closed, she was biting her lower lip and moving her arms up to cross them on top of her head, giving him a show. Then she rocked forward hard a few times, and he could feel her walls tighten around him, flooding with warmth. Moving slowly, she rode out the end of her orgasm and then climbed down and use her mouth to finish him off. It was her way of preventing pregnancy, and Morgan had to admit that he found it much more agreeable than using condoms. Especially when they didn't have any more left anyway. If this was normal life, he would have been more than happy to see a woman he loved as much as Jessica give him a child. But in the present circumstances, pregnancy was nothing short of a death sentence. He hoped one day they could find a safe place and have a normal life together.

With both their urges satisfied, Morgan swung his feet back onto the bed and moved over to make room for Jessica. He pulled the blanket back over them and held her close, telling her he loved her even though he knew she wouldn't say it back. She just kissed him and held him close, resting her head on his chest. She loved that Morgan always just gave her love, without demanding anything in return. But it also scared her. It seemed too good to be true. And in her experience, things that were too good to be true, usually turned out not to be so true after all.

"What's for breakfast?," Duane called out from where he was still laying in bed.

"Good morning to you too," his father called back, making Jessica laugh. She swore that damn kid had a hollow leg. A day long it was nothing but food food fucking food with him.

"Eat a granola bar," she suggested, "we are going hunting today." Morgan looked at her.

"All of us?," he asked. She shrugged. This meant her and the girls were going, but Morgan and Duane could tag along if they didn't make too much noise. Really Cassie was the most acomplished hunter of the group. But Jessica and Desiree were still better than the boys. Under Cassie's tutelage, they were getting better, and now could at least help with processing the animals, even if they couldn't shoot any. Missing a shot meant missing dinner, so there wasn't a lot of opportunity for the inexperienced hunters to practice. During the winter, they had set up a makeshift target up on the roof, where the kids liked to practice. Other then that they had spent their time playing cards and board games, eating the canned food that Morgan pilfered from local stores and houses.

Jessica was trying to decide between getting up and taking herself a little catnap when she felt Morgan's body stiffen up under her touch. He was out of bed quick as a rabbit, yanking on his clothes before she even heard it. Their alarm system consisted of a bunch of biters they had tied up around town with bells and tin cans tied to them. If anything alive came through, they made a horrible racket.

"Its probably just another stray dog," Jessica declared. They had not seen a single person all winter.

"Lets catch this one," Duane suggested, "and keep it as a guard dog."

"Lets catch it and eat it," Jessica said with laugh at what she guessed the boy's face looked like.

"You can't eat a dog," Duane insisted.

"They do it in China all the time," Cassie informed him. His face was classic. "I bet they taste just like chicken," she added. Morgan had enough of the joking around.

"In case its not a dog," he said, "I want everyone up and dressed right now." He had a bullet proof vest on and pulled a mask over his face. His tone reminded Jessica that there really was danger out there, and she got up and started pulling her clothes on. "Put a vest on," he reminded her. She nodded. Morgan was out the door and heading for the roof while she was still zipping her pants. It was when she started strapping her gun on that she heard the shots. Now the kids were scared.

"Make sure your guns are loaded," Jessica barked at them, "Cassie with me, Duane and Desiree stay here." Cassie grabbed her bow and followed her mother. They saw Morgan fly by down the stairs. He ran out the side door and into the building next door. Jessica and Cassie went out, but stayed in the alley, edging closer to the street to try and get a look at whoever was out there. Jessica peeked round the corner just in time to see Morgan get shot.


	13. Chapter 13

Alexandria

The small group was near the front gate gearing up when RickyJo showed up. She had her son propped up on her hip and Glen could see by the look on her face that she was not impressed. Eugene was still trying to get out of going with them but he shut right up when he saw her coming. Deanna was standing near them. She saw the woman coming and was interested to see what she wanted. She had assumed when she met her that RickyJo was a weak woman who had latched onto a strong man in order to keep herself alive, and she was starting to figure out that maybe her assumption was wrong.

"This is who is going on the run?," RickyJo asked them, waving her arm at the group. Most of them nodded. "No, no, no," she declared. First she pointed to Noah. "Limpy McGimpy you are not going anywhere," she informed him. Not only did he have a limp, he was a terrible shot and tended to panic and run like a rat.

"I can go," he started to protest, "I want to help."

"Good," she told him, pointing him back towards the house, "You want to help, there is a huge dirt pile down there, Jessie will tell you where she wants it put." Then RickyJo cocked her hand up n her hip and looked at him with her eyebrows raised, like why was he still standing there. Noah sighed and handed his gun to Eugene then headed off down the street grumbling under his breath. Tara was smirking. She had been thinking about the same thing, but had been too nice to say it. RickyJo turned back to the group. That had been easy, but the next one was going to fight her on her decision.

"You," she said, pointing to Aiden's friend Nicholas, "you are not going anywhere either." He looked shocked and Tara had to fight back her laughter a second time. RickyJo waited to see if Deanna was going to challenge her. When the woman didn't say anything she added, "Go home."

"You can't tell me what to do," Nicholas informed her. Most normal people would be relieved not to have to leave the walls. The fact that he wanted to fight her on it confirmed for her that he was as big an idiot as she thought.

"You need combat training before you go out again," she told him firmly. From what she had heard from Tara, what he really needed was to grown a brain and a pair of balls, but she felt saying that was not going to make this go any easier.

"No I don't," he insisted, "I can handle myself just fine." RickyJo shrugged and shoved her baby towards Eugene, who held him like he was a disease. She stepped towards Nicholas, gesturing in the air.

"Come at me then," she said. Nicholas looked around to see if anyone was going to come to his defense. Surely they could see this woman was one brick short of a full house. Aiden had his arms crossed looking at his friend with no small amount of amusement. He was glad he had no been singled out as a weak link. Seeing no other option, Nicholas raised his hands like a amateur boxer. He took a few tentative steps towards the woman, who did not have her hands up and was starting to circle him like a shark. He took an awkward swing at her, which she easily dodged, reaching in to slap him hard across the face and then dancing back out of his reach. Now he was getting pissed off. This woman was making him look stupid in front of everyone. And he wanted to hit her. Hard. Lunging at him with a quick movement and darting back, she made him flinch and almost trip over his own feet.

"Can't be afraid to take a hit," she told him with a smile. Now he was getting serious, clenching his fists and trying to get closer to her. She looked casual, and not afraid of him at all. Moving to get him in the spot she wanted him, RickyJo waited until her took another swing. She blocked it with her forearm and grabbed his wrist with the other hand, twisting it up behind his back and slamming him against the side of the van. She got very close to him, pressing her body agaist his back.

"Out there," she told him, "When someone gets ahold of you like this, they are going to rape you. They are going to kill you. And they are going to eat you." She felt Deanna's hand on her shoulder.

"Enough," the woman told her, "you made your point. Let him go." RickyJo let the man go, backing up and keeping an eye on him in case he decided to have another go at her. Deanna positioned herself between them. "Go home Nicholas," she told him. The man muttered a few curses and stomped off. RickyJo took her baby back from Eugene.

"I know you don't want this to turn into a militant community," RickyJo told the woman, "But if you are going to send people out there, they need to be able to protect themselves." Deanna nodded. She wasn't agreeing to anything yet, but she understood the point. RickyJo turned to Aiden, who was feeling nervous. "Why don't you take your brother with you instead," she suggested. Spencer still needed some seasoning, but at least he wasn't a total moron. Eugene took this opportunity to point out the obvious.

"You know I don't have any combat trainging either," he mentioned.

"Stop being a big wet hen," RickyJo told the man, "You're going." Then she turned to Glen. "Stop by the construction site and take Merle or Abraham with you," she told him. Really Rick should be up here, volunteering to lead the mission, since he was the so-called leader. But who knows where he was. Outside the walls hiding guns in blenders like a squirrel, most likely. Glen didn't bother to argue. He knew what she told him wasn't a request. And though there had been no formal discussion on the matter, everyone pretty much deferred RickyJo when Rick wasn't around, and sometimes even when he was. Whatever she said, Merle and Daryl backed her up, and lately, that meant Abraham and Rosita too. Plus she was close with Tara and Michonne, who usually agreed with her. If there was ever a real split between her and Rick, Glen knew it would tear the group apart. It almost happened when they had been arguing about whether or not to come here with Aaron. If Rick was smart, he would keep her close, like Shane used to do. But politicking had never really been Rick's strong suit.

Spencer returned, geared up for the trip. In truth, he hated going on runs, and was usually happy to let Aiden and Nicholas handle it. But he was happy that he had been chosen by RickyJo as someone she thought could be trusted and depended on. He liked her and out of the new people he had met, she was one person who's friendship he would like to have. Sammie and Carl came running up at the last minute. They had heard from Noah's angry complaining that he had been kicked off the run team.

"We can go," Sammie offered. RickyJo would have felt fine sending the kids. But she glanced sideways at Deanna, who clearly did not think it was a good idea. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to give in a little. Every battle was not worth fighting.

"Run team is full," RickyJo told the kids. "But I heard some hogs around the outside of the wall this morning if you guys want to go hunting," she added. Deanna still seemed uncertain about this, but at least they weren't going out on the run. Sammie and Carl seemed perfectly happy with the idea of going hunting and ran off to get some guns and bows from the equiptment locker. RickyJo was still thinking about the combat training and how she was going to get Deanna on board with it.

"If you would feel better we could call it self defense training," RickyJo suggested with what she hoped was a helpful smile. Seeing that her suggestion was not going over well, she added with more sincerity, "I just don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else." Deanna was really finding it hard to resist the other woman's urgings. She had really been wrong about her. This woman was a force to be reckoned with.

"If I was to agree to this," Deanna said, "who would I put in charge of it?" RickyJo smiled a real smile at the woman now. Deanna had noticed the woman's looks before, but she when she smiled she was radiant.

"I would probably put Rick in charge," RickyJo said, "I mean he is a cop. He probably got proper fight training at cop school, right?" Deanna laughed, she wasn't sure what the proper name for the school were policemen went was, but she knew it wasn't 'cop school'. RickyJo thought about it and then decided to give the woman one more peice of advice. "Rick is and ego maniac," she said quietly to Deanna, "when you are dealing with him, its always better if you let him think everything is his own idea."

"Isn't that true for all men?," Deanna asked her. Deanna had been dealing with people for a long time, and she had gotten good at reading them over the years. When RickyJo smiled at her joke, Deanna knew in that moment that she had won the woman's respect. And she also knew respect from this woman was something she needed if she was going to truly going to get these people on board with the kind of community she wanted to build.

Carol smiled after the kids as they ran off to try and join the run team. She guessed they were not going to be allowed to go, which she thought was a mistake. The kids in this town were growing up weak. They were not going to be prepared for the world that they were going to have to live in. She took the bowl of table scraps outside and dumped them into the small compost bin that was in the center of one of the herb gardens. Noah seemed to have gotten over his anger about the run, and was now following Jessie around with the wheelbarrow, talking her ear off.

Rick saw her from where he was sitting on the porch of the other house with Beth and waved her over. Beth could tell they were looking to have a private conversation, so she took Judith over to and set her down in the playpen, pulling it over to a shaded area. Rick would tell her everything later when they were alone anyway. Then she went back to helping with the gardening. Carol set the bowl on the stairs and then sat down on the swing next to Rick.

"You talk to RickyJo about the guns?," she asked. Rick laughed. That could either mean the talk went really well or really bad.

"She and Merle already had guns," Rick told her, "They stole them the same as we did." Carol shook her head. The two of them were really something else. She wondered if they had gotten in through the window like she had.

"They use the window too?," she asked.

"No," Rick told her, "RickyJo said Merle _distracted_ Olivia while she stole the guns." Carol gave him a sideways glance. He was looking pretty amused, so she guessed Merle had not hurt the woman or scared her. "He sucked a little face with her," Rick said.

"RickyJo didn't care?," Carol asked.

"I guess not since she was laughing about it like it was the best thing she's seen all year." Now Carol was laughing. She couldn't help herself, the mental image she was getting was ridiculous.

"Is Daryl on board with this?," she asked.

"RickyJo didn't say," Rick said, "but you know he will usually go along with whatever RickyJo wants to do."

"So what are we doing?," Carol asked.

"Well we are going to try and make these people see reason," Rick said, "get them on board with what we need to do to make this place safe."

"And if they don't get on board?"

"Then we will take this place." Carol nodded. She hated to even think it, but that's really what they should have done the minute they got here, instead of playing these stupid games with Deanna. She knew these people were good people, but they were stupid and like Michonne liked to say, stupid gets you killed.


	14. Chapter 14

Jessica and Morgan

Rick leaned down over the body of the man that Carl had shot. There wasn't any blood so he knew the man must be wearing some kind of body armor. Rick pulled off the mask that the man was wearing and almost fell back from shock. This was Morgan. The man that saved his life. Beth nudged him and Rick looked up to see he was being held at gunpoint by two women. They had different coloring, but it was obvious they were related somehow. Maybe sisters or mother and daughter, though they looked too close in age.

"Get the fuck away from him right fucking now," Jessica screamed at the people. The kid in the hat and the blonde girl were holding their guns up, but the man on the ground put his away and held his hands up.

"Hey," he said, "its okay. Look I know him." He gestured towards Morgan.

"Then what the fuck did you shoot him for?," the younger girl yelled.

"He was wearing a mask and shooting at us," Carl told the girl. Cassie thought about that. It did seem like a good reason to shoot someone.

"Back away from him right now," Jessica told them again. Rick stood up slowly and backed up. Carl, Beth and Michonne did the same. Cassie held her gun on them while Jessica rushed over to make sure Morgan was going to be okay. His pulse was strong and he was breathing. The bullet had not gone through the vest, so it must have just knocked the wind out of him. She looked up, throwing a hateful glance towards the group of newcomers.

"If you know him," she said to Rick, "what's your name."

"Rick Grimes," he told the woman.

"Never fucking heard of you," she informed him.

"I know his name is Morgan," Rick said gently, "and he has a son named Duane."

"Its true," Duane called from where he and Desiree were peeking around the corner.

"I told you to stay upstairs," Jessica yelled at them. Those goddamn kids listened about as good as a couple of deaf goats.

"Is my dad okay," Duane asked. Jessica nodded. Then she looked over the group of people. They didn't seem overly threatening. And there was only one man with them. She and the kids could take them if it came down to a fight. She motioned for Cassie to lower her handgun. She saw that the kid and the blonde girl also lowered theirs.

"Since you shot him," Jessica said to Rick, "Least y'all could do is help me carry him upstairs."

Rick watched the woman with Morgan. Once they had him upstairs on a bed, she had carefully removed his vest and now she was perched on the side of the bed, checking him over for injuries. Rick was sure he did not know this woman, but there was something strangely familiar about her. He just couldn't put his finger on what it was. The most striking thing about her was her hair, which was such a vibrant shade of coppery red that when it caught the sun it looked like it was glowing. RickyJo's baby had hair that color, maybe thats what was making the woman seem like he might know her.

Michonne looked around the large room they were in. These people had clearly been living here for quite some time. Probably all winter. And now she guessed she knew where the guns they were looking for had gone. Against the far wall was a complete arsenal. Any kind of weapon you would ever need, plus loads of ammunition. There was a lot of food piled up too, canned stuff along with boxes of crackers and cereal. Big crates of bottled water were stacked up to support a large peice of wood that served as a table. Board games and decks of playing cards were piled on the floor next to it. The kids were huddling near the bed, looking down at the injured man. The oldest girl still had hold of her gun and was glancing at them from time to time with looks of distrust. When the man on the bed started to make some soft moaing noises, she ran to fetch him a bottle of water.

Jessica had one of Morgan's hands in hers, touching his face softly with the other and talking to him quietly, telling him everything was going to be alright. Rick had to admit, Morgan had done pretty well for himself since he had seen the man last. Not only was this woman pretty, she also seemed to care for him a great deal. And Rick had seen outside that she had actually known how to use the weapons she had been holding, unlike many of the people running around with guns these days. Michonne gave him a look and nodded her head at all the weapons.

"Let me talk to him first," Rick said to her quietly. She shrugged. Rick could tell these people clearly had more guns than they needed. He was hoping they would be willing to part with some of them. Or maybe he could convince them to come back to the prison with him and then they could take all the guns, and gain a few more people to help them fight. Beth watched the way Michonne was looking at the guns and supplies these people had. She didn't know the woman well enough to know what she might be willing to do to get them. And she didn't think she wanted to find out.

"While you are waiting for him to wake up," Beth suggested to Rick, "Maybe we should go try and find the baby stuff we need."

"You need baby stuff?," Cassie asked them. Beth nodded. Cassie felt bad for any baby that had the misfortune of being born during all the terrible things that were happening now. "There's a house not too far away that had a daycare in the basement," she said, "I can show you." The last part had sounded tentative. She looked at her mother to make sure it would be alright with her if she went with these people.

"You can go with them," Jessica said, gesturing to the two women, "Take Duane with you and take your bow and a bat in case you see any boogies."

"Boogies?," Beth asked. She had heard a lot of different names for the walkers but that was a weird one. The younger of the two girls pulled her thumb out of her mouth.

"Boogey Men," Desiree said quietly. Then she popped her thumb back in, reaching for the large knife on her hip and feeling to make sure it was still there. Beth nodded her understanding. This must be how the adults here had explained the walkers to the kids. And maybe Boogey Men wasn't such a bad name for them. They were the stuff nightmares were made of. She watched as the boy they were calling Duane strapped on a holster and picked up a long aluminum bat. The girl tucked her gun away in the back of her pants and picked up a bow with small wheels on the top and bottom. Beth knew from watching RickyJo teach Sammie that this was called a compound bow.

Michonne and Beth followed the kids down the stairs and back out the side door. Beth noticed they all stayed close to the buildings and tried to do the same. The girl with the bow had an arrow notched, at the ready, but didn't pull the string back until she saw something she wanted to shoot. It reminded her of the way RickyJo looked when she could still hunt, back before she got so big and pregnant that she couldn't move fast anymore.

A walker saw them and headed down the small alley between the buildings towards the group. Cassie lifted her bow and fired, hitting it in the eye and dropping it. She braced her foot against it's head and pulled her arrow back out. Then Duane gave it another hard bash in the head with his bat. Michonne watched the kids. Now she understood how such a small group had made it this long. The girl was obviously an accomplished hunter, and her training had probably started long before the end of the world.

They walked out of the downtown shopping area and onto a more residential street. About two blocks down, Cassie spotted the house she was looking for. Michonne saw that a lot of the houses had markings on the doors painted in spray paint. She couldn't tell what they meant, but she guessed the kids knew. They walked over the overgrown lawn and around the back of the house, which had a walk out basement.

"All the kiddie stuff is in there," Cassie told them, pointing to the sliding glass door, "we will keep watch out here while you get what you need." Michonne gave the glass door a few taps with her sword. If there was anything inside, the noise should bring it towards the door. When nothing came, she slid the door open and gestured for Beth to follow her. The smell hit Beth when she stepped inside, almost choking her. Once she saw where it was coming from she knew why the other girl had not wanted to come inside. There were four small cots in a row. The children in them had been put to bed and then shot in the head. A woman hung from a noose in the middle of the room, her reanimated body growling and reaching for them. Michonne stuck her through the head with her sword, then shook the blood off onto the floor.

"Check over there," she told Beth, pointing to the other side of the room. Beth swallowed down the bile that was rising up in her throat and went the way Michonne had told her. She found a portable playpen, the kind with wheels under it. She pulled it into the middle of the room and started throwing things inside.

Morgan was finally waking up. He saw Jessica and then looked behind her where a man was standing against the wall. It startled him at first. Then he remembered he had seen the man before.

"Rick?," he asked. Jessica was holding his hand. He moved to sit up and she let go of his hand to help him, pushing a pillow behind his back to prop him up. How scared she was for him showed plainly on her face. "I'm alright," he assured her. She sat back down on the bed and leaned forward to press her lips gently to his. When she sat back, Morgan rubbbed her arm, moving up to cup her face in his hand. He was looking at her with so much love and caring in his eyes, she had to look away. She got up and made an awkward excuse about making lunch and getting him an asprin. Rick saw that Morgan followed the woman with his eyes, smiling at her. Then he turned his attention to Rick.

"Did you find your family?," he asked. Rick took this as an invitation to sit and chat. The younger girl that had not gone on the run dragged a chair over and set it next to the bed for him. Then she came back with a water and asprin for Morgan. She handed it to him and then leaned down and hugged him, a small sob escaping from her. Morgan rubbed her back, hugging her to his chest. He was the closest thing to a father she had ever had and she had been very frightened when she thought he might not wake up.

"Get off him before you hurt his ribs more," the girl's mother called. The girl hopped up and scampered over to help her mother make lunch. Jessica sent her up to the roof to get the little fire pit going. Then she started picking out a few cans of vegetable soup. They could throw some of the dried venison they had in with it and she could make some biscuits. The black woman had been staring at their food, so she guessed these people were hungry. She decided to make enough food for everyone.

"I did find them," Rick told Morgan. Then he gestured to the boy in the hat. "This is my son Carl. I found my wife but she died." Morgan nodded, smiling at Carl. He was glad Rick still had his son.

"Why are you here?," Jessica asked bluntly from where she was mixing a bowl full of biscuit mix and water. The blunt way she talked to him reminded him for a moment of RickyJo. Like when he delt with her, Rick figured there was no point to beating around the bush.

"I came looking for the guns I knew were in the police lockup," he said, pointing to the guns stacked and piled against the walls. "We found a safe place to live. We cleared the state prison," he added, "you could come back with us if you want."

"If its so safe, why do you need guns?," Morgan asked. Jessica was eyeballing the man. She was fine with feeding them a meal, but this asshole was not going to be walking off with all their weapons. She didn't care if they were from the police lockup and he was a cop. Finders keepers jerkoff. Rick could see the woman was not impressed with what he had said. This was going to take some explaining.

"We are having problems with another group," Rick admitted. Morgan guessed the rest.

"You showed me where to find these guns," Morgan said, "So I will give you half of them."

"Like hell," Jessica interjected. Rick watched as the couple locked eyes. Nothing was said but a few seconds later the woman muttered a few foul words under her breath and went back to the biscuit dough, turning her back to them.

"I will give you half these guns," Morgan said, waiting to see if Jessica was going to object again. When she didn't, he continued. "But I can't put my family at risk fighting a battle that isn't mine to fight." Rick sat back. He felt Morgan's decision was fair. He even thought for a moment about leaving Carl here until the battle with the governor was over. But he knew the boy would not be happy with that and might take off on his own, trying to come back. And that was a lot to ask of these people, half of which he didn't know and the other half he had only really met once.

"Thank you," Rick told him, bringing on a few more swear words from the red haired woman. Then she stomped off out onto the balconey and up the stairs to the roof. "Friend of yours?," Rick asked. Despite her angry stomping, Morgan smiled.

"If I had it my way," he said, "she would be my wife."

Duane came back with the girls, and Carl was happy to see they had two whole playpens full of stuff for his little sister and MJ. He knew RickyJo would be especially happy about all the diapers. Rick and Michonne loaded up half the weapons and the baby supplies into the car. Then they sat down for a very delicious and slightly awkward meal. The kids made it go smoother. Duane and Carl wolfed their food down like two blood hounds and took off to go look at the comics Duane had. It made Rick sad that Carl didn't have any friends his own age back at the prison. Maybe after the problems with the governor were over, Morgan might be willing to reconsider coming back to the prison with them.

Morgan noticed the young blonde girl was sitting close to Rick, and they occasionally touched under the table. From where he was sitting, Rick didn't seem to be too broken up over his wife. Not that Morgan had a lot of room to talk, being with Jessica so soon after Jenny died. But at least Jessica was a grown woman, this girl only looked a few years older than Cassie. She was pretty though, and seemed very sweet and polite. Those were rare qualities these days, and if the two of them were happy, then Morgan decided he was happy for them.

After watching the small group climb into their cramped car and drive away, Morgan, Jessica and the kids headed back up to clean up the dishes and go back to whatever activities they had been doing before the unexpected visitors had arrived. Jessica took the dishes up to the roof to wash them and did not come back down so Morgan went up to look for her. She was sitting in one of the camp chairs with her feet up, looking out over the small town she now considered home. Morgan took the seat next to her, minding his sore ribs as he tried to get comfortable. He had something he wanted to ask her.

"You have been wanting to find a larger group to join," he reminded her. Jessica gave a little shrug and crossed her arms. She was still having a pout over the guns. Morgan at least could have made those people give something in trade for that much fire power. Morgan sighed. "I'm sorry about the guns," he said. Then he took her hand, bringing it up to his lips and kissing the back of it. Jessica wanted to stay mad at him, but she was having a hard time. Finally she cracked a smile and leaned over to kiss him.

"You have been talking about finding a larger group," he started again. Jessica nodded this time.

"There's safety in numbers," she said. "And the kids need to be around other people."

"Why didn't you go with them then?," Morgan asked her. She looked shocked at his question. There was no way in this life or any other that she was going anywhere without Morgan, She thought he knew that.

"You said you didn't want to go," she said. That should be enough of an explanation, she thought.

"What does that have to do with you?," he asked. He had been serious about his questions at first, but now he had a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. Morgan knew that even when he tried to talk to her about his fellings, it made her uncomfortable. But he told her just the same. Jessica pulled her hand back and crossed her arms, looking at him indignantly. If he wanted her to talk about her feelings, she might have to throw up in her mouth a little bit. It was on the tip of her tounge to tell him that, but then she saw what happened earlier again in her mind. The gun firing and Morgan falling to the ground, possibly dead or dying. She felt her bottom lip start to tremble. Then she finally spit out what she had been holding in for all those long winter months.

"I want to be wherever you are," she told him. Morgan took her hand back, holding it between his two larger ones, feeling all the little calluses he already knew were there. This was the closest she had ever come to saying anything close to how she felt about him, so he thought he would push his luck a little further.

"Why?," he asked her softly. She looked down at her lap, thinking his question over. As a young woman, she had always loved too hard, cared too much. She kept people too close, held on too tight. Only her cousin was able to bear the weight of her love without breaking. The strength of her feelings had made boys and men recoil from her. And so she had learned to bottle up her feelings inside. Not to get attached to the men she slept with. Because she knew if she started caring for them, they would leave. Men only liked the chase. Once they thought you were theirs, they got bored. But maybe Morgan wasn't like that. Maybe when he said he loved her, he really meant it. He was good to her. Plus he was patient and kind to her daughters. Jessica took a deep breath. She looked up, her eyes misty with emotion.

"Because I love you," she said.


	15. Chapter 15

Alexandria

Rick had been walking around the walls all morning, checking for weak spots and thinking of a lot of things he wanted to do to make the place more secure that he probably was not going to be allowed to do. He walked back towards the house, skirting what was left of the giant dirt pile. RickyJo's horse trotted over, sniffing at the pockets on the front of his shirt. Finding that he had nothing to offer, the horse went back to nibbling at the grass in Aaron's yard. As Rick approached, he saw Merle, Eugene and Noah were sitting on the front porch. That was a strange assortment of people if he ever saw one. He knew right away that something was going on. As he started up the steps, Eugene spoke up.

"You can't go in there right now," he informed Rick. Rick threw the men a questioning glance. What did they mean he couldn't go in there. This was his house. Was someone cleaning the floors or what?

"All the girls are in there," Noah announced, like it was a big secret, "They are having a meeting."

"A meeting?," Rick asked, "About what?"

"Shut thafuck up," Merle hissed at everyone, "I am trying to listen." Once he said that, Rick noticed the man had positioned himself near the window and was cocking his head slightly to one side. "Even that old broad is in there, the one that likes to pretend she runs the place," Merle added. Carl appeared from around the side of the house.

"Could see them," Carl said, "But I couldn't hear anything." He had climbed up on a garbage can so he could look in the side window.

"What were they doing?," Noah asked.

"Just sitting around talking," Carl answered. Merle glared at them both.

"Shut up," he said for what he felt like was about the thousandth time in a row. Rick walked up on the porch and took a seat in the chair on the other side of the window. Then he leaned in and tried to see if he could hear anything.

All the girls were settled down now, drinking the iced tea that Carol and RickyJo had passed around. They had called the meeting, so it seemed polite to provide everyone with something to drink. RickyJo had been taken aback when Maggie had shown up with Deanna, but she guessed it was fair enough. She did say she wanted to meet with all the women. And Deanna was a woman. Now that she was here, RickyJo was interested to hear her opinion on the matter at hand. Besides Carol and RickyJo, Beth and Sammie had the most knowledge of what was going on, but that was mainly because they had the most contact with Jessie. RickyJo looked at Carol, who nodded at her to go ahead and start.

"Y'all see all the girls are here," RickyJo started. Then she waited for everyone to quiet down before she went on. "Everyone except Jessie," she said. "Thats because I wanted to talk to you about her. Carol? Why don't you tell them what you told me.," she suggested. Carol cleared her throat.

"I was baking cookies with Jessie's younger son," she started. This drew smirks from a few people, which Deanna noticed, but did not comment on. "He asked me for a gun so he could use it to protect his mother," Carol paused and let that sink in. Then she went on. "He said his mother put a lock on the inside of his closet door so he could hide in there from his father. The other night he heard yelling and then a thud. When he came out his mother was unconcious on the floor."

"Oh no," Deanna said. Most people looked shocked and upset. Beth and Sammie looked ready to cry. Michonne looked angry, but she always looked a little angry. But Deanna did not look shocked. RickyJo could tell by the look on the woman's face that she was not surprised at all to hear what Carol had just said.

"Did you already know about this?," RickyJo asked the woman. Deanna nodded. At least she had the decency to look ashamed.

"I hoped it would get better," Deanna admitted. RickyJo was not impressed. This woman was giving her a hard time about self defense training and she had been letting Pete beat the shit out of his wife and not done anything to stop it.

"Well its not getting any fucking better," RickyJo said to her, trying to control her tone.

"Its a private family matter," Deanna said. The truth was before Rick's group got here, Pete was the only person they had with any medical training and Deanna had not been willing to risk upsetting him or making him want to leave. He was a big guy too, one that not a lot of people would be willing to stand up to.

"Its not a private matter," Michonne said, "its an insult to every woman here." Most of the girls were nodding their heads now.

"Is this the kind of community you are trying to build?," Maggie asked Deanna, "One where woman have to live in fear of their own husbands?" She knew the woman better than the rest of the girls, having spent the most time with her. And she had really been disappointed to find out that Deanna knew about Pete and Jessie and had not done anything about it. The way all these women were looking at Deanna was making her feel terrible, and very ashamed.

"No its not," she said firmly. Maggie reached over and squeezed her hand reassuringly. Tara patted the woman gently on the back. Questioning Deanna's leadership was not what this meeting was about. RickyJo felt the same way. She had been a little upset when she found out Deanna had already known, but she also respected the woman for all the good things she had done for Alexandria.

"The question now," RickyJo said to Deanna, "Is what are we going to do about it?" If Deanna had not been in the room, Carol would have outright suggested that they just kill the man. Instead she kept quiet.

"Well," Sasha said, "He will have to move out and live somewhere else." A few people nodded. Rosita knew the man better than the rest of the girls, since she had been working in the informary with him. She knew people were thinking he had value since he was a doctor, but from what she had seen, he was not only an asshole, but a fall down drunk as well.

"He is not going to want to leave," Rosita said. Deanna noticed most of the women were looking at RickyJo, waiting for her to tell them what to do. She had gotten a hint of it the other day when the group was gearing up to go on the run, but now Deanna realized she had judged the dynamics of this group wrong. This is the woman she should have taken on as an advisor. There was an awkward moment where Deanna thought RickyJo was going to speak up and make a decision without consulting her. But RickyJo just crossed her legs, letting her one boot bounce slightly in the air. And she looked at Deanna, waiting for her response. In that moment she could have taken away most of the power that Deanna had. But she chose not to. Instead, she won Deanna's respect.

"We are not going to give him that option," Deanna said.

"If he doesn't go easy?," Tara asked. She hated the guy, but she still didn't want to see anyone get hurt. Now Deanna looked at RickyJo. Michonne had been watching them closely, and was very interested in the subtle communication going on between the two women. RickyJo waited until Deanna nodded at her. Then she smiled that little half smile that always scared Tara, but turned her on a little at the same time.

"Then he is going to find out how it feels to fight a woman that hits back."

Rick and Merle had heard most of what was going on. Merle didn't really care about that stupid dick doctor. If all the girls wanted to kick his ass, that was going to be some quality entertainment. RickyJo had been acting weird about that Jessie girl, and he was relieved to know it was only because she was worried about her and not because anything was going on between the two of them. Rick was irritated that no one had felt the need to inform him of what was going on.

"Jessie's husband is beating her?," he asked no one in particular. Merle looked at him like he was the biggest idiot on earth.

"She was over here hauling dirt in 90 degree weather in a long sleeve shirt," Merle informed him, like that should have explained everything. Really Merle had not known for sure until now, but he had guessed. Rick shrugged. He had not taken much notice of what the woman had been wearing. As long as the girls didn't have their tits out again, they could wear whatever they liked. Merle whacked at his leg with the metal thing he wore in his arm.

"What," Rick hissed, trying not to talk too loud.

"If all them bitches go over to beat some sense into that prick," Merle warned him, "You better keep your cop ass out of it."

"Yeah," Noah added, "they are probably all on their periods. Don't women get all crazy when that happens?"

"Don't know," Merle told the boy, "why dontcha go on in there and ask 'em." He gestured towards the door with his arm. Maybe they could beat up the fucking beanpole as a warm up. Even Rick had to hold back a little laughter at that. And for once he thought Merle was right. He was only going to get involved if it came down to kicking Pete out of the safe zone. For now he would let the girls handle this how they wanted.

And with that thought, the front door of the house opened with a whoosh. The guys were trying to act nonchalant. RickyJo deposited the baby into Merle's lap and headed down the steps. Guess that meant he was watching him for now. MJ clapped his hands and started trying to grab for Merle's arm sleeve. When that grew boring, he started pulling the front of Merle's shirt down.

"TeeTee," the boy demanded. Merle pushed his hands away.

"How many times I got to tell you, I ain't got nothing for ya in there kid?," Merle told his son. Noah wrinkled up his nose.

"What is he doing?," Noah asked. Rick laughed. He knew what the kid was doing, he tried to do it to anyone with breasts, and some people without. Beth refused to hold him for a week after the last time when he had reached down her shirt and grabbed her nipple so hard he left a bruise.

"He's hungry," Rick told Noah, "go inside and get the applesauce out of the fridge." Noah got up and ran inside, reappearring quickly so he wouldn't miss anything. Rick moved his chair closer and started spooning the sauce into MJ's mouth. The kid opened his mouth so wide, he reminded Rick of a baby bird. Then Rick turned to see what was going on across the street. The girls were over in Jessie's front yard now. RickyJo and Deanna were up knocking on the door.

RickyJo knocked again, harder this time. Jessie was usually out by this time, working on the gardens and it was making her nervous that all the blinds were closed. Finally Jessie opened the door a crack. Seeing RickyJo there, she swung it open wider. Then she noticed all the woman were out there. It creeped her out a little.

"Whats going on?," she asked.

"We need to speak to you," Deanna told her. Jessie nodded and opened the door all the way. To her relief, only Deanna and RickyJo came in. The other girls stayed outside. Pete had been drinking already, and she was hoping he had laid down and passed out. If he was asleep, she didn't want to wake him. RickyJo got in close to Jessie and put her arm around her. When she touched her on the back, Jessie winced.

"The reason why everyone is here," RickyJo told her, "Is because we care about you. And we know Pete is hitting you." She stopped to let Jessie digest that.

"I am sorry for not doing anything before," Deanna told her. And as she said it, she realized she really meant it. "But you don't have to put up with it anymore." Jessie was starting to tear up now. She was embarrassed and scared and grateful and also a little overwhelmed. Pete had convinced her that he was worth a lot to this town and no one gave a shit about her. RickyJo pulled Jessie into her arms and hugged her, being careful not to squeeze.

"Its over," she told the woman quietly, "we are not going to let him hurt you anymore."

"What's going on here," Pete asked from the kitchen doorway. His voice startled the women, especially Jessie. He looked at RickyJo with no small amount of annoyance. Taking a few steps towards her, he said, "I think its time for you to get out.." Deanna was looking back and forth between them, not sure what to do. RickyJo squared up and held her ground. She took Jessie's hand and squeezed it tight. _Tell him Jessie. It has to come from you._

Jessie stammered a little at first, but then she spit it out. "No Pete," she said, "You are the one that needs to leave." Deanna was hoping he would just go, but she thought the worst he would do is yell and maybe swear at them. Instead he said nothing, just stared hatefully at his wife and the woman beside her. Then he closed the distance between them in a flash. Swinging his arm he slapped Jessie hard with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the wall. RickyJo moved to help her and he seized her hard by the hair and started dragging her towards the door. Deanna was screaming at him to let her go. She tried to grab his arm and he shoved her hard. She landed, hitting her head hard against the corner of the couch.

Pete opened the door, expecting to find an empty porch. Seeing all the women there gave him a shock. Before he could recover, Michonne ran at him, launching herself onto his back and grabbing his hair to yank his head back so she could wrap her other arm around his throat in a choke hold. In his attempt to shake her off, he let go of RickyJo, threads of her long hair still dangling from his hand. Rosita came running in, followed closely by Sasha. They got around behind him to avoid getting kicked by Michonne's legs, which were swinging wildly. Then they kicked his knees out, dropping him to the ground. Jessie was already getting up, so RickyJo went for Deanna, checking to see if she was okay. Then she dragged her away from the fight as carefully and quickly as she could. Jessie nodded that she had her.

Pete had fallen onto the floor, so Michonne let go and jumped back. He was getting up so she aimed and gave him a good hard kick in the balls. Then Rosita and Sasha grabbed him under each arm and dragged him out of the house and down the stairs, dumping him unceremoniously in the front lawn. The other girls were standing around, keeping out of grabbing range. With the feeling returning to his balls, his alcohol fueled anger was coming back as well. He was not going to be pushed around and thrown out of his own house by these little bitches. RickyJo came down off the porch. She could see he was getting up.

"Its over," she told him, "if you leave peacefully now, none of this ever happened."

"This is my house you fucking whore," he informed the woman. Sammie darted in behind him and punched him hard in the lower back. Pete make a woofing noise and put his hand to his back. Sammie smiled at him. Nobody talked to her friend that way. Carol tried to hide her grin. Sammie was a fiesty one. Pete grabbed at the girl, but she danced back out of his reach.

"Looks like you got kicked the fuck out of your house asshole," Sammie announced.

"Why don't you just leave?," Tara suggested.

"I will fucking kill you," Pete hollered at the girls. Beth picked up a clump of dirt that must have fallen from one of the wheelbarrows. She took careful aim and then launched it at the back of the man's head. It hit hard and exploded into the air like a halo of filth.

"I would like to see you try you sloppy ass drunk," Beth told him. Like an angry bull that had been repeatedly poked and taunted, Pete suddenly locked in on Beth like she was a red flag. He ran full force at the girl without warning, tackling her to the ground, where he started to choke her. Sammie and Tars descended on the man, hitting him and trying to pull him off. Sammie heard RickyJo yell move as she ran at them, kicking Pete full force in the ribs and sending him flying. Beth sat up, grabbing at her throat and coughing. Then there was water spraying at him. Carol had grabbed the house with the power nozzle from the side of the house and she was aiming it at his face and chest. Seeing that Beth was alright, now some of the girls were laughing.

Pete was backing up into the street, holding his arms up to try and keep the water from his face. Most of the girls were cheering Carol on now. Spray him good. Aim for the crotch. And thats when Rick tackled him. He had his gun out and he was hitting the man over and over again in the face. Carl ran over from the porch and tried to pull him off. Rick hit at the boy, knocking him backwards onto his ass. Deanna was out of the house now, holding onto Jessie's arm, and they were screaming for him to stop. RickyJo was yelling at him, enough, enough. Not only did he have his gun out, that no one was supposed to know about, but he was going to beat the man to death. The girls had only planned to rough him up a little, not to kill the guy for chrissake.

"I'm fine," Beth was yelling, "stop it Rick before you kill him." Then Michonne came out of nowhere and punched Rick as hard as she could, knocking him out cold.


	16. Chapter 16

Jessica and Morgan

They stood near the tree line, just watching the walkers run over the place. So much for the backup plan, Jessica thought. She wondered if this had happened recently or if the prison had been overrun back when that man had come looking for more weapons. Either way it was a good thing Morgan had decided that they were not going to come and live here. If they had, they would all be dead now. Parts of the fences had been broken in. And there was even an old tank parked up near the building.

"What are we going to do now?," Duane asked. Morgan and Jessica exchanged glances. What were they going to do now? They couldn't go back to their other place, it was all burnt out. The fire had started in the woods somewhere and then spread through the dry brush like crazy. They had enough warning to get themselves and some of their things out in time, but the building they had lived in was gone, along with the rest of the town. Jessica felt Morgan's hand close over hers, lending her his strength. Her girls were looking up at her, also wondering what the answer to Duane's question was.

"We will find another place," Jessica told them, trying to sound more sure than she actually felt.

"That guard tower looks solid," Morgan suggested, "we can stay there for the night. Then we will start looking for another place." Jessica nodded. It was best to take things one day at a time for now. If she started thinking about next week and next month she would lose her damn mind. Her younger daughter stepped closer to her, wrapping her thin arm around Jessica's waist and leaning her head in. Jessica hugged her close. She knew the kids had been excited about coming here, maybe seeing the people they met before or meeting some new ones, and now everyone was dead. Sometimes it felt like they were the only people left alive in the world.

They ended up staying in the guard tower about a week. Morgan had been hoping some of the people from the prison were still hanging around and maybe if they waited here, some of them would come back. Plus, the inside of the prison was loaded with food. Jessica and Duane had set up a cd player far over on the other side of the prison yard. They turned it on and waited for all the boogies to come out, then they just walked right on inside and took whatever they wanted. If they had been able to find a set of keys, they might have been tempted to stay and try to fix the place up, even thought it was really too big of a project for just the five of them.

After waiting and waiting, it was clear that no one was coming. And while the guard tower was a safe place to sleep, there was not enough room for them to live there long term. So they packed up what they could carry and set off walking. The tracks seemed as good a place as any to walk. There was more cover than there was just walking down the road, but the walking was easier than trying to stomp through the woods. Desiree had the lightest bag on, with their camping tents inside. They were special tents that Morgan had rigged up with a lot of help from Cassie and Jessica. Now all they had to do at night was find a high tree with a few sturdy branches. You climbed inside your tent and used a crank and pulley system to lift the whole tent up into the air and out of biting range. The tents were dark green and brown, so there was a chance they might not even be spotted by people if they were only passing through casually.

It was about halfway through the afternoon when they saw the first sign for terminus. Duane and Desiree got charged up right away, but Cassie was more skeptical.

"What if the men who hurt Nana are the ones running this place?," she asked. Since they had never seen or heard from those men after that day, it was always a constant in the back of Cassie's mind that they would run into them again someday. "Maybe its a trick," she added. Jessica was thinking along those same lines. She could see no good reason why anyone would want to put up signs to where they were for anyone to see. And why would they offer sanctuary to complete strangers. Even if the people who put these signs up were sincere, there was a good chance they had been taken over by another group by now, just like her farm and the prison. She looked to Morgan to see what he thought.

"Well it might be a trick," he agreed, "but we won't know unless we go take a look." Jessica wrinkled her nose up. This was the face she made when she didn't like what he had to say. He rubbed her arm. "Come on Jess, what have we got to lose?"

"When we get there I want to spy on them a while before we think about going in," she said. Morgan nodded in agreement. While he wanted to check the place out, he had no desire to rush head on into a trap. He pulled her in, hugging her close to him and kissing her on the cheek. Since they had been sleeping in the guard tower with the kids, they had not really had much privacy and he missed her. Duane rolled his eyes and stuck his finger in his mouth like he was going to gag himself. But little Desiree just smiled up at them. She was happy her mom had someone to love her. When Morgan let go of her mother, she darted in and wrapped her arms around the man's waist.

"I love you Daddy Morgan," she told the man. Morgan hugged her back and Jessica smiled softly at them. Desiree had never said anything about it, but one day had just started calling him that, like she had been doing it all her life. Cassie was more reserved, but Jessica had heard her referring to him in the same manner when she was talking to her younger sister. _I am going to eat all the crackers. Better not or when Daddy Morgan comes back I am going to tell on you._ The girls had a few male influences in their lives, but none that were really constant. And all the hopes and dreams and love Desiree had saved up for when her father finally started taking an interest in her was now lavished upon Morgan. At first, Jessica worried it would annoy the man, but he seemed to have endless patience when it came to her girls.

"Lets make camp," Cassie suggested. "I see a lot of rabbit tracks around here." She was also sick of walking, but she felt complaing about that on the first day would be in slightly bad taste. And if she complained, Desiree would start whining and go on until she drove everyone batshit crazy.

"You stay with us until we pick the campsite," Morgan warned her, "then you go hunting." She nodded. Cassie had no desire to be stuck alone in the woods.

They ended up lucking out and finding something better than a campsite with a good looking tree. They found a cabin. With a well water pump that worked, so they wouldn't have to boil water to drink. Mogan checked to make sure the inside of the cabin was clear, and then he let the kids go inside and scope it out.

"Someone has been here not too long ago," Jessica told him quietly, "There are graves over there that only look a week or two old."

"Maybe it was some of the people from the prison group," Morgan suggested.

"Or people from the group that attacked them," Jessica countered. Normally he tried to assure her that her fears were unfounded. But he knew she might be right.

"We can take turns on watch tonight," he said. "If we decide to stay awhile I will install an alarm system." She laughed. Tying a bunch of boogies to trees with jingle bells and tin cans tied around their necks hardly counted as installing an alarm system, but it did serve the same purpose. "Checked inside," he told her with a different tone to his voice, "we can have our own bed." Jessica gave him a playful smile.

"What are you suggesting?," she asked, feigning innocence. She closed the distance between them, pressing her body against his suggestively and telling him, "You know I have never been with a black man before." This sent Morgan off into howling laughter. She tried to shush him up, before he attracted every undead freak in the woods to their location. Jessica was really something. He wondered how many times she had used that line. If he had not already seen her girls, he might have been tempted to believe it.

"How many guys have you used that line on?," he asked her once he recovered from his laughing fit. Now she pretended to be angry.

"Are you calling me a slut?," she asked.

"I don't know," he answered, "can you ask me that question with a straight face." Jessica shook her head, she wasn't sure she could ask him anything with a straight face. And from the long winter nights they had spent talking, she already knew that his sexual experiences had been fairly limited and he already knew that hers had not been quite so limited. The best story she had was the one about her daughter Desiree being born. It was so outlandish, that Morgan was never quite sure if she was making it up or telling the truth. And her cousin that she was always talking about sounded like an intriguing woman. The girls loved to hear the story about the time that Jessica and her cousin caught a bunch of baby ducks and let them loose in their grandmother's house. The girls called it 'the duck story' or 'the time Nana said the F word'.

"Is there a shower or a bathtub in there?," Jessica asked. Now that question she was serious about.

"Theres an outdoor shower around back, with a wood fired water heater," Morgan told her. Her eyes opened wide. He better not be lying to tease her. Her number one thing that she missed from normal life was a hot shower.

"You fuckin' serious?," she asked. He nodded.

"I think it will take a while to heat up," he said, "but I can stay here and get it going if you want to go hunting with Cassie." Jessica through her arms around him, kissing him hard on the mouth. Things she was going to do to him after his shower were going to make him need another one. For now that would have to wait. She did want to go hunting, some fresh rabbit sounded good after all the canned and dried crap they had been eating. Cassie came running back out of the cabin, already geared up with her bow.

"Theres flour and lard inside," she said to her mother, "If we get a few rabbits we can make rabbit and dumplings."

"Then what the hell are we standing around here for," Jessica asked her. Cassie laughed and Morgan watched them disappear into the woods, back towards where Cassie had spotted the rabbit tracks. He knew Jessica had been young when she had her daughter. And because of that, they sometimes acted more like sisters than mother and daughter.

Dinner had been the best they had in a long time. And it had been even more enjoyable since everyone had gotten a chance to shower first. They had put on some ill fitting but clean clothes they found in the cabin and While the girls made dinner, Morgan had washed out everyone's clothes and hung them on a line outside to dry. It seemed like it took the kids forever to fall asleep. Jessica and Morgan lay on a blanket by the dying cooking fire and waited until the laughter and the whispering finally quieted down and then stopped. All the teasing looks and laughter from earlier were gone now, and Jessica lay on her side, one hand propping her head up and her freshly washed hair falling down around her face. Her eyes were dark with desire and she had a look of longing on her face that she usually tried to keep hidden.

Morgan waited for her to shake off her more serious feelings and pounce on him, which was her usual way. But tonight she didn't feel the need to hurry. Sometimes it was nice to be taken instead of doing the taking. She did wish he would do something though, instead of just lying there staring at her. She rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling and then she started unbuttoning the large mens flannel shirt she had been wearing as a dress. Morgan watched her, her slim pale fingers deftly sliding each button back through its hole before moving on to the next one. Her nipples were hard against the soft fabric, and she was moving her legs up and down slowly, rubbing her thighs together.

Morgan held himself still until the last button was undone, then he was on top of her, kissing her face, her neck, burying his face into her soft clean hair. She wanted to reach between them and draw him out of the shorts he was wearing so she could feel him inside her, but she made herself wait. He was kissing her all over her chest and stomach now, sucking on her nipples and making her moan. And then his mouth was on hers and he was fumbling between her legs, his own passion finally taking over. Before he pushed inside, he kissed her and told her he loved her. Morgan was the first man that ever looked her in the face when he was making love to her. It had freaked her out a little at first, but now she found it to be a real turn on.

He was moving slow, trying to take his time, but he could feel the hard pump of her hips under him. Putting a little more of his weight on her, he forced her to slow down. Her nails were digging into his back, not hard enough to draw blood, but he could feel them. And when she found she couldn't dig in with her heels and rock her hips, she had pulled her knees up and wrapped her legs around him, trying to get as much of him inside her as she could. It was when she started begging that he lost control. Please Please harder harder I need it I love you Fuck me baby. He lifted up on his elbows and started increasing his speed, and then her hands were on his ass and she was rising up to meet him, rocking her hips so hard against him that he knew she was going to have bruises in the morning. When she came, he came with her, spilling inside her before he could stop himself as her walls tightened around him.

"God damn it," he swore, rolling off her and onto his back.

"Its okay I already came," she assured him.

"So did I," he said, "Inside you." Jessica shrugged. One time probably wasn't going to kill her. She rolled onto her side so she could cuddle up to him with her head on his chest.

"If it makes you feel better," she whispered, "I really liked it." Actually that did make him feel a little better. He was still scared he would get her pregnant. Things had gone so bad when his wife had delivered Duane that neither of them wanted to have another child. Morgan could not imagine Jessica having to go through that without a doctor or nurse to help her. In the controlled environment of a hospital it would be bad enough, but out here, he knew it would likely kill her. "Stop worrying so much," she told him, kissing his neck and the tender place behind his ears, "you are killing my after sex buzz." Morgan kissed her back and pulled the blanket over them, holding her gently in his arms and rubbing the soft skin on her back until he felt her breathing get slow and rhythmic. Then he got up slowly, pushing a pillow under her head and smiling when she cuddled it close to her. He pulled his clothes on and grabbed a book, heading over to sit by the door and take the first watch.

They lingered at the cabin for about a month. When they left, Morgan locked the place up carefully. He wanted to check out Terminus, but the cabin would not be a bad fall back plan if they decided not to go in. Later that day they saw the sign. Someone had written 'No Sanctuary' on the sign in mud. Morgan looked at Jessica, who was wrinkling her nose up.

"Look here," Cassie said, pointing to a marking on a tree next to the sign. "This is a trail marking," she said, "My Aunt RickyJo taught them to me." Jessica smiled. It was not the first time that something the girls had learned from RickyJo had come in handy.

"Where do you think the trail goes?," Duane asked. Morgan looked at Jessica, who smiled at him, letting him know she was fine with the kids having a small adventure.

"Only one way to find out," Morgan told his son. Then he turned to Cassie and told her to lead on.


	17. Chapter 17

**** If you have read this far, shoot me a review and let me know what you think. Remember this story is rated M for Mature, and as always I own nothing from The Walking Dead. ****

Alexandria

Her son had woken her before dawn. But thankfully he had drifted back to sleep while she fed him, and she had been able to slide him carefully back into his bed without waking him. Normally, RickyJo would have just gotten up for the day, but she had been feeling more tired than usual over the last week. She had tried making herself some strong coffee a few days before but the smell of it, which she usually loved, turned her stomach and sent her flying into the bathroom to empty its contents into the toilet. In fact, the very thought of the smell of coffee was enough to make her feel light headed again. So instead of rising early and sipping her coffee on the back porch in the quiet of the very early morning, she climbed back into bed. She snuggled in close to Merle, trying to absorb some of the body heat that always seemed to radiate from him when he slept. Minding her injured toes, she put one leg over him, and fell alseep with her head on his chest.

Merle woke up, pleasantly surprised to find that he was not waking up alone for once. For a moment he thought maybe he was just up early, but the clock said eight, so that meant RickyJo and the little critter were sleeping late. And the kid was still in his own bed, not hogging their bed with his bony little elbows and knees in Merle's back. Though he had to admit, RickyJo always got the worst of the bed sharing situtation. No matter how or where she lay, MJ was on her like white on rice. Once Merle had woken up and seen the kid sleeping on top of her head like a damn cat.

Reaching under the sheets, he found her knee and ran his hand up the length of her thigh. She had a little pair of soft cotton shorts on and nothing else. Whatever shirt she had on when they went to bed the night before must have gotten tossed when she got up in the night to feed the baby, because as he slid his hand up to her waist and around to rub her back, he felt nothing but the softness of her skin. And up near her shoulders, he traced the tiny circular scars that covered the tops of her shoulders and the back of her neck. Some of them had faded so much over time that they were barely visible. The ones on that decorated her stomach and cleavage were still angry and red looking like the marks on her face. It still hard to look at them without feeling anger and hatred for the man that had left them there and for a moment, he hugged her to him tightly, wishing he could have shielded her from everything that had happened.

Now she was starting to stir, yawning and rubbing at her eyes. With his hand under her chin, Merle tilted her head back so he could kiss her. She could feel him hard against the inside of her thigh and she rocked against him, grinding herself against his hip. Pulling away from his kiss, she rolled towards the edge of the bed and checked on her son to make sure he was still asleep. Not that he would know what he was looking at, but she still didn't think he needed to be watching his parents having sex. He was still fast alseep, so she rolled on her back and lifted her hips, pushing her shorts down to her knees and then kicking them off under the sheets. Following her example, Merle took his pants off and tossed them across the room towards the laundry basket.

He started to roll on top of her, but he felt her hands on his chest, pushing him back down onto his back. She flashed him a mischievous smile and disappeared under the sheets. A few seconds later he felt her mouth on him. There were many things about being in bed with RickyJo that were unique to her. But how passionate she was when she was giving out head was by far his favorite. Most girls would do it, and some would even do it without being told, but he had never really met one that seemed to enjoy it. Not like she did anyway.

First, she put her mouth everywhere, instead of just bobbing up and down on the end of his dick. And then there was that weird but amazing side to side thing she did with her tounge. She took her time with what she was doing too, instead of being in a rush to get him off so she could get off. Deciding she needed some air, she tossed off the sheets. The rush of cool air against the parts of him that were wet with her spit sent a delicious shiver up his back. And then her mouth was gone and she was swinging one leg over to straddle him, replacing her mouth with the only part of her that felt better wrapped around him.

She had already been aroused when she woke up, and it didn't take her long before she could feel herself release, the spasms rocking through her, making her bite down on her lip to keep from moaning too loudly. Pulling her down against his chest, Merle bent his knees, pumping into her hard and fast. Now she was holding on tight to his shoulders, and when he came, he could feel her walls tightening around him for the second time. They lay together for a moment. He liked the feel of her weight on top of him. Unlike other women that he couldn't wait to get away from, she never felt too heavy.

When she felt like she could breathe again, RickyJo rolled off him and onto her side, facing away from him. Merle rolled onto his side and put his arm around her, pulling her close and kissing her neck and shoulders. Having gotten over the fear that he might not want her near him after he was done a long time ago, RickyJo enjoyed the closeness and the feel of his knees tucked in behind hers, so much of their skin touching that she felt like they were almost one person. She was glad he had not wanted to leave to go off on some crazy job for the people here. And it struck her in that moment that she knew he never would. Because he didn't give one rats ass for anyone here except for her and her son. Merle could be a pain in the ass sometimes. _Challenging, he's not being an ass he is just challenging._ But she knew he was as good to her as he knew how to be. And it occured to her that maybe she had not been being very nice to him. Sneaking around with Daryl behind his back and all. And the truth was he had done nothing to deserve it.

Merle could feel her body tense up, and she swallowed hard a few times, then wiped at her eyes. He was hoping she might tell him what was bothering her, and also praying she wouldn't. He had a pretty good guess at what it was anyway. For now, he just held her tight against him.

"I did something really shitty," she finally spit out. He choked back the inappropriate jokes he wanted to make and thought about what he should say.

"What like fucking my little brother behind my back?," he asked in a tone he hoped wasn't going to start a fight. RickyJo knew he was bluffing. But his question startled her anyway. She knew he suspected what had happened, but if he had any proof, Daryl would have gotten a punch to the face before now. She made no move to get away from him or turn. If he got a look at her face, there would be no question anymore of what was going on.

"What do you think you know?," she asked.

"I know he ain't much for personal hygiene," Merle said, "and I can smell him on ya sometimes." Merle waited to see if she was going to try denying that. When she didn't he asked her what he had been wondering for some time. "Was it only that one time at the cabin, or have ya been fuckin' him on the regular?" RickyJo thought about what she wanted to say and then just decided to tell the truth. Anything he was imagining was probably a lot worse than what she was going to tell him anyway.

"It was at the cabin and once since we got here," she admitted, "the night of that stupid party." Now she waited for the rage to come. Merle had every right to be angry with her. But he didn't yell, he just asked her another question.

"You leavin' me for him then or what?," he asked. He was a little mad, but he certainly wasn't going to be stupid enough to leave her, even if she had been acting like a hillbilly tramp. That would be like repeating the dumb Daryl move that opened up the door for him to get her in the first place. She was his wife, sleeping in his bed. When it came to RickyJo, right now he had the alpha positon and he was not going to give his brother the pleasure of abdicating it willingly. She seemed shocked at his question.

"No," she told him firmly. Then she asked, "Are you going to leave me?"

"Nope," he said. She spun in his arms, cupping his face in her hands and kissing him. When she was done, she pulled back, still looking a little guilty. "Somethin' else to say there honey?," he asked her. If she had another secret, he was hoping it was that she had been sleeping around with that Tara chick that had the killer rack. Now that was something he could work with. Even that dumb blonde punching bag neighbor lady wasn't half bad looking.

"I think I'm pregnant," she said. Then she bit down on her lip when she saw his reaction. She hurried up and added the worst part, hoping it would be like ripping off a bandaid. "And I think it's Daryl's." Merle thought this over. If Daryl thought she was pregnant with his baby he was going to be hanging around here like her fucking shadow. Merle liked him better out doing recruting or whatever that homo liked to call it.

"I thought you said you only fucked him after that party?," he asked, "you lyin'?" She shook her head.

"No, it was just that one time, and at the cabin, but that was months ago. I am not that pregnant," she said.

"Well we been fucking every other day 'cept for that one," he insisted, "so if you are knocked up that baby is mine, same as MJ." RickyJo thought that over. He did have a point. She had only been with Daryl once, and some silly dream wasn't exactly proof of paternity. "Why you think it's his?," he asked. She felt stupid saying it was because of a dream.

"I just had a weird feeling after, like I knew," she said. It was kind of close to the truth.

"Don't tell that shit to Daryl," Merle told her firmly. She nodded. Even if she wanted to tell him, she wouldn't know where to start.

"You are not mad at me?," she asked. He shrugged. The truth was he was mostly relieved she wasn't leaving him. But he didn't want to tell her that. All these years, he had never been able to figure out why she wasted her time on him to begin with. Or Daryl, for that matter. She should have married that nigger she knew from college that ended up switching from running track over to football and going pro, and let him take care of her. Or found some weird genius scientist dude that wanted to talk to her about tomatoes all day. When she started in with the biology stuff, Merle couldn't even understand half of what she said. He didn't tell her any of this, and he probably never would. Instead he pulled her close and hugged her possesively against his chest.

"No," he said, "but I would 'preciate it if you could find it in yer heart to stop letting my brother put the fucking wood to ya." She laughed into his chest. He really had a way with words sometimes. "I didn't hear a yes Merle," he reminded her. She pulled back and looked at him with a sheepish grin on her face.

"I can try?," she offered. Merle wasn't sure he liked the sounds of that. He was glad she wasn't blowing smoke up his ass and making promises she couldn't keep, but the thought of her with his brother made him see red.

"Just remember," he warned her, lowering his voice, "You are _my_ wife. And if I ever catch you with him, brother or not, I will beat his fucking ass so hard it will make what I did to that pussy Glen look like some pleasant dream to ya." She nodded. That seemed fair enough. And he knew that threatening Daryl was going to be more incentive to her to stay away from him than forcing her to make a bunch of stupid promises that she didn't mean would be. He wasn't stupid, the two of them had been close for years, and he wasn't going to be able to force her to stop caring. And he wasn't even sure he would want to even if he could. But he could make her think twice about jumping into bed with him again. "Say yes Merle," he told her. She gave him a big fake smile and batted her eyelashes at him.

"Yes Merle," she said. This seemed to appease him, because he rolled her back over so he could spoon in behind her again and hold her. This time he ran his hands over her stomach, which felt too flat to have a baby inside. No one was going to make him miss out on everything this time around. Before he could say anything else, there was a light tap at the door. Merle pulled the sheets up over them and called to the person to come in. It was Carl, holding his sister.

"I think she's hungry," he said, trying to look anywhere except at the two people on the bed that were clearly naked under the sheets. RickyJo gestured for him to bring the girl over. He handed her over awkwardly, then backed off. He paused in the doorway. "You guys better get up, everyone is waiting to talk to you about my dad." Merle groaned and covered his face with his arm. He was so sick of that dumbass cop. Shane had been pig too but at least he had some sense in his damn head. Merle had told that idiot to leave the girls alone and not to fucking get involved. Ten minutes later he had his gun out, beating that guy almost to death in front of everyone like a god damn lunatic. If everyone ended up having to turn their guns in because of him, Merle was going to give him the ass beating he had deserved years ago for cuffing him to that roof.

"We will be down in a minute," RickyJo told Carl. He nodded and backed out of the room quickly.

Rick woke up, feeling sore and tired from sleeping on a mattress on the floor. He had been confined to one of the vacant homes in the neighborhood, but he saw that at least he was just being trusted to stay there and not being guarded. Beth was up, sitting in one of the window sills, looking out into the early morning light. She had on a large thin t-shirt that belonged to him, and the way the light was shining into the window behind her, he could see the silhouette of her body through the thin fabric. Since she came back to the group from her time with that other group, he could see that she had changed. Except for the scars on her face, there were no obvious outward differences. It was more of a feeling he got from her. A hard edge to her that had not been there before. And when he made love to her now, all her little girl shyness was gone. She made every time feel like she thought it might be the last time.

Beth knew they were all coming soon. And that she should get up from her perch and get dressed before they got here. She knew the worst thing would be what their own group would have to say to Rick. Deanna probably wasn't going to do anything. Maybe she would make him give his gun back. Scold him a little. But she knew RickyJo had been gunning for him for a while now. After she had left with Merle, Rick had taken her place and started helping Shane lead the group. After Shane got killed, and they all got back together at Terminus, there had been some tension, with Rick feeling like he should be in charge. RickyJo had let him take the lead, mostly because she was still pretty messed up from her time living at Teminus. But as she had been gettting better and better, there had been more and more tension between them, which had almost broken out in violence when they were fighting about whether or not to come back to Alexandria with Aaron.

Lines had been clearly drawn in the sand. And Beth knew the numbers were not on Rick's side. Merle and Daryl had backed up RickyJo. And since Abraham was friends now with Merle, that meant she had him and Rosita. Tara and Eugene had backed her, and so had Michonne, though Michonne might have only taken her side because she agreed with her that time. Rick really only had her, plus Carol, Glen and Maggie. And he really only had Glen because he still hated Merle. Even Glen had not agreed about not coming here. Noah, Sasha and Bob had mostly stayed neutral. And that preacher guy, no one cared what he thought anyway. And from what Beth had seen at that ladies meeting, RickyJo seemed to have Deanna to back her up now too. Whatever she decided was going to happen to Rick for what he did yesterday was probably going to be the final word. And that scared the shit out of Beth.

She thought about the small baby that she knew had been growing inside her for quite some time. She had not told anyone yet. Not even Rick. If he thew a fit about whatever they told him, and wanted to leave, even she was not going to be able to go with him. He was going to have to keep a cool head and take whatever punishment was doled out, and Beth wasn't sure that was something he could do.

"What are you thinking about over there," he asked her softly from where he was lying on the mattress. Beth sighed.

"I was thinking maybe you ought to lay low for a while," she told him. He started in about how right he was again, like she knew he would. If he tried this approach with RickyJo it was not going to go well for him. Beth cut him off. "I'm pregnant," she said. He stopped talking and stared at her. Then he was on his feet, crossing the room to pull her into his arms. "RickyJo doesn't want you as the leader," she said into his chest. She could hear him sucking in his breath to start off on another tirade so she quickly cut him off. "It doesn't matter if she is right or wrong, she has the numbers," Beth said. _And you should never have whipped that gun out in front of Deanna, that was just plain stupid._ "You might need to swallow your pride for now and go along with her," Beth told him. Beth saw the girls with her at that meeting yesterday, they were all going to back her up, maybe even Maggie. And the guys would follow their lead. Beth was hoping Daryl would get back before this went down, he had a lot of influence over RickyJo. And unlike his brother, he did not have a personal vendetta against Rick.

"But I am right," he insisted, "these people are weak and they are leaving the town open to attack." Now Beth knew he needed a little tough love. Straight shooting as her daddy always liked to call it.

'It doesn't matter if you are right," she said, "because you made yourself look crazy yesterday. No no one is going to take what you say seriously." Beth turned to look back out the window. Speak of the devil, here she came down the street. She was by herself, which surprised Beth. She had thought the woman would bring at least Merle along to back her up. "Here she comes you better get dressed."

RickyJo sat down on the mattress and started nursing her son, waiting until Beth left before she started talking. Rick sat down across from her, crossing his legs indian style like they used to do in elementary school. RickyJo looked awfully relaxed for someone who was about to lay the hammer down on him. She stretched her shoulders out and covered her mouth to yawn.

"Sorry, excuse me," she said, yawning again.

"Tired?," Rick asked her. She nodded. That was going to lead in well to the first thing she had to say.

"We had a meeting this morning," she started, "and I am going to tell you the same thing I told them." Then she thought about that. "Actually I made up a more polite excuse for them. I am just going to tell you the truth." Rick nodded. This was actually sounding more interesting than he thought it would be. The truth was, he had never spent much alone time with RickyJo. She made him a little uncomfortable. She was the type of woman that he just did not understand.

"My personal life is a fucking mess," she admitted. "I am pregnant again and I don't even know who the father is for sure this time." Rick tried to control his expressions but her open admission had shocked him a little. She rested her head in her hand for a moment then went on. "I am in charge of the gardening and I take it very seriously. There isn't much point to securing this place if everyone inside it is going to starve." Rick nodded. He had not really thought about it that way but she did have a point. RickyJo was good at thinking long term, she always had been. She took another pause and switched MJ over to her other breast. "I have MJ to worry about too. I can't take on leading this group right now." She stopped and let that sink in. Rick now understood that the rest of the group had asked her to take over. They had lost faith in him.

"I told them if you agree to stay on, I would advise you like I used to do for Shane," she said. That took a lot for her to say, and Rick knew it. She had to put aside all the angry feelings she was still holding onto over what he did to Merle, try to forget about the bad decisions he had made, and think about what was best for the group. They needed to stay together to stay strong. If there was a divide between her and Rick, it would break the group. And they were stronger together. "But you actually have to take my advice, like Shane did," she added.

"I can work with that," Rick told her. He had never thought about taking RickyJo on as his right hand, mostly because he knew she didn't like him much. But if she was willing to work together for the good of the group, then he supposed he ought to give it a shot. "So what should we do about yesterday?," he asked her. If she wanted to give advice, she might as well start there.

"I am not sure," she said, "I was thinking you should just say sorry for taking the gun and make up some excuse, but Merle said we should take this opportunity and just tell them we all have guns and we are not turning them in." Then she added, "and Michonne is really mad at all of us for taking the guns and not telling her. Her and Merle got into it again." Rick laughed. Michonne and Merle were like oil and water. The two of them just did not mix.

"So they are mad about the gun, and not about Pete?," he asked. She shrugged.

"I don't think anyone cares about Pete," she said, "and he was choking Beth, so I think you got a free pass on that one. There's going to be a meeting tonight about what to do about him and about you having the gun. Deanna wants to talk to me first." She took a deep breath. She wasn't saying it to be mean, but she thought he needed to hear it. "You acting crazy with that gun yesterday is the exact reason Deanna doesn't want people running around with them. You kind of proved her point for her." Rick nodded, he felt she was being fair and not overly insulting. And he was finding that taking advice from RickyJo was not as bad as he thought it was going to be. She had not cussed at him or smacked at him with any available object, the way she did with Merle. And her points had been valid.

"You think I should give the gun back and apologize?," he asked. She nodded.

"I have an extra one I can give you to replace it," she offered. Then she explained her reasoning. "Deanna doesn't understand guns. She didn't grow up with them the way we did, and she has not had to leave these walls for a long time. It is going to take someone's life being saved with one before she will get on board." Rick had not thought about it that way. People who were not familiar with guns were often afraid of them.

"Maybe I could offer to give her a shooting lesson," he said, thinking out loud. RickyJo smiled. She was glad Rick finally seemed to be getting it. And while she didn't say it, she had a feeling Deanna would take the lesson if Rick was the instructor. She had seen the woman looking at him after he finally shaved that beard off.

"Now we are getting somewhere," RickyJo said. MJ got up and pushed away from his mother to go explore his new surroundings. He walked away a few steps and then turned to blow kisses at them, making RickyJo laugh. "Michonne taught him that," she said, "it is the cutest thing I have ever seen." Rick smiled, watching the woman with her son. It was funny to see that a woman who could be so serious and hard about some things, was still just as gentle and kind with her children as any other mother.

"He sure is a character," Rick admitted. RickyJo laughed at that, she knew it was a nice way of saying her kid was a bit of a brat, which he was. But just like his father, that was part of his charm. She was glad the talk between her and Rick was going so well.

"Since we are here anyway," she said, "I had a few other things I wanted to mention." Then she quickly added, "nothing to do with yesterday." Rick looked at her with his eyebrows raised. He was finding that he was more than a little curious to hear the rest of her opinions.

"Lay it on me," he told her.


	18. Chapter 18

Jessica and Morgan

Morgan had the map out again, staring at it. Jessica smiled. He could look at it all day and it would never tell him where they were on it. At least they had a compass, so they had some idea which direction they were walking instead of just flying blind. The water had been simmering for what she hoped was at least twenty minutes now, and she scooped it out and poured it into the five mugs she had waiting that were full of ramen noodle soup mix and leftover wild turkey meat from the night before. All this time on the road had made even Duane better with his bow, and he had been proud to provide everyone with dinner the night before. He had shot the thing in the wing and Cassie had to help him catch it so he could wring its neck, but a dead turkey was still dinner no matter how it got shot. Duane and Desiree were still sleeping and Cassie had headed out to hide behind a tree and do her morning business.

Taking his mug, Morgan blew on it to try and cool it down. Jessica gave him a scolding look. That crap was so hot he was going to burn his lips. And she liked his lips the way they were. Morgan heard the crunch of the leaves behind him and thought for a moment that it might be Cassie coming back. But then he remembered that Cassie had gone in the other direction. A man with a strange scar on his forehead stepped into their camp and sat down, pointing a handgun casually in Morgan's direction. Jessica was on her feet quickly, aiming her gun at the man. But Morgan gestured for her to sit down. The man had been close enough that he could have shot them if he wanted to. And if he was from the area, maybe he could tell them where they were on Morgan's map.

Jessica had a feeling the man was not alone, and she listened carefully to try and hear if anyone was behind her. She found she could not hear anyone, but when the wind picked up she could smell the foul odor of someone that had not bothered to bathe in a very long time. She also wondered if the man had any bullets left in his gun. Bullets were heavy to carry and hard to come by. They had their guns, but had stopped using them a long time ago in favor of the bows. The arrows were quieter and they could use them over and over again, plus they could make new ones if they had to. Or repair the ones that the tips broke off of. When it came to killing the boogies that got in too close, Jessica used a bat, while Morgan preferred to whack them with his walking stick. He had gotten pretty good at using it too.

Morgan picked up his mug of turkey soup and sipped it. He waited to see what the man was going to say or do. The man said nothing at first, but then turned his head towards Jessica, looking her up and down. She wrinkled up her nose at the man. If he thought he or his stinky friend were getting anywhere near her, he had another think coming. These assholes were screwing with the wrong people. Morgan, Jessica and the kids had not had much contact with other people. This was the first time Morgan had seen another man look at her. And he found he was suddenly flooded with rage and jealousy. He sipped his soup and forced himself to control his breathing.

"Stop that," the man told him, gesturing towards the mug of soup.

"Why?," Morgan asked him.

"Because I want it," the man said, "I want everything you have including her." He pointed to Jessica. Before the man could say another word he felt the skin on his face and neck suddenly light up in burning pain. Morgan had thrown his soup on the man and then stood up, bashing him hard against the side of the head and knocking him out. The other man lunged for Jessica, but she was ready for him and darted to her right. The man stumbled over the small log she had been leaning against and she got up, hitting him hard in the back of the head with her bat. Cassie stepped out of the bushes behind him, her bow drawn. Jessica descended on the man, prepared to beat him in the head until he was dead, and then do the same to his friend. But Morgan grabbed her gently around the waist and pulled her back.

"Stop," he said, "we don't have to kill them."

"Fuck that," she told him, shaking him off, "he was going to rape me and probably Cassie and Desiree too if he caught them." Desiree woke at the loud sound of her name, and poked at Duane to wake him up. Cassie had her bow drawn and Morgan had his stick and her mom had her bat, so something scary must be going on. Duane was up, grabbing for his bow and looking around for the boogies he gussed must be close by. Instead he saw two men laying unconcious in the middle off their campsite.

"But that didn't happen," Morgan told her gently.

"Fine," Jessica cursed. She walked over and kicked the smelly man hard in the crotch and then did the same to his blistered friend. Then she took their weapons. She had been right, the jerk didn't have any bullets and neither did his friend. She tossed the guns away into some thorny bushes. _Have fun getting those back you cowardly fuckwads._

"Feel better?," Morgan asked her.

"Yep," she answered. She still wanted to kill them. It was the momma bear in her coming out. But if Morgan was going to get all upset over it, she guessed kicking them hard in the balls was good enough. Fuckers would be sore when they woke up. Maybe it would teach them a lesson.

"Kids get your stuff right now, we are leaving," Morgan told them.

"What about breakfast?," Duane asked.

"You can take it to go," Jessica told him, stuffing her own things back into her bag while Morgan dumped some dirt on what was left of the fire. Then he poured the rest of the boiled water into everyone's canteens. The small group had set up and broke down their camp enough times that everyone knew their jobs without asking or being told. The soup was dumped into a large insulated thermos, which they could pass around as they walked. Cassie rinsed the mugs out with some unboiled water and packed them away into her bag. In less than five minutes they were ready to go.

Morgan wanted to try and head out of the woods and get somewhere with some landmarks or street signs. Since they needed to get as far away from their new friends, Jessica quickly agreed. And they did need to get their bearings. She didn't want to walk too far north and have to back track. Desiree was following Morgan, her little spiral bound notebook out, writing down what he told her to. Mostly addresses and street names. The problem was the map was so big, only the major highways and streets were listed. And most of the streets they came across were not on the map.

"We could look for a gas station and try to find a local map," Jessica suggested. Then she raised her bat and brought it down hard on the skull of a boogie that was wandering a little too close to them. Morgan nodded. That was a good idea. Now the only problem was going to be finding a gas station that still sold paper maps. Most of them did not because people stopped buying them they all got GPS on their phones.

"Lets go to Walmart," Cassie suggested, "they have everything there." She wasn't so sure about paper maps, but she did want some new socks. And she knew she could find those at Walmart. Or maybe a can of Coke and some stale chocolate bars. They walked by a fenced in parking lot. A ton of boogies were swarming a parked car.

"Got to be somebody in there," Morgan announced. Jessica shrugged but the kids looked on curiously.

"Maybe we should help them," Duane said. He knew he would want somebody to help him if he was stuck in a car surrounded by those nasty things. Jessica looked at Morgan and then rolled her eyes so far back in her head he was sure she could see her own brain.

"If we do this and these people end up being assholes like those guys this morning," she told Morgan, "I am not going to be a happy camper." Duane started laughing. Happy Camper. Morgan was more serious. There was a chance that the people they were about to help might try and hurt them. And he did not want anything happening to his family.

"Lets drop most of them with the bows," he said, "then I will go in with my stick and I want the rest of you to hide over behind that truck." Jessica nodded. The plan wasn't great and it was going to cost them most of their arrows, but it was better than leaving random people here to die, which even she didn't really want to do.

Daryl was inside the car, smoking what he thought was his last cigarette. He felt bad about not making up with RickyJo before he left. That had been a stupid thing to do. Then throught the dirty windows of the car he could start to see the walkers dropping.

"Someone is shooting them down with arrows," Aaron said with some excitement. Why that man always felt the need to state the obvious, Daryl could never understand. Walker after walker fell to the ground, and then he heard someone yelling.

"Out the passenger side now!," the man screamed. He was swinging at the walkers with a long heavy stick, spining it to get more speed. Daryl and Aaron bolted from the car and the three of them ran for the fence, pulling it closed and chaining it. Morgan checked to make sure Jessica and the kids were well hidden behind the truck. She was standing up, clearly visible, with her mouth hanging wide open in shock. Morgan did not put together what was going on until Desiree ran at the man holding the crossbow.

"Uncle Daryl," she screamed. She did not worry about the man that was with her uncle or Morgan's warning to stay behind the truck. With the special excitement that only the very young can muster, she ran at the man full speed and soon found herself swept up into his arms and hugged tightly to his chest. Daryl could feel his face start to get wet and he wasn't sure if it was because she was crying or he was. Cassie came at him next, tears already streaming down her face. She looked so grown up, almost just like her mom when he had first met her. He set Desiree down, where she collapsed on the ground, clinging to his leg, and he hugged Cassie around the waist, lifting her off the ground. Jessica came at him slower, not sure if she could believe what she was seeing. For a minute Daryl had the strange feeling that he had died in that car and was reuniting with his loved ones on the other side. But these were no ghosts. This was his family, and they were flesh and blood. Cassie let go and turned to cling to Morgan, sobbing into his chest. Jessica touched Daryl's face, and then she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him and trying not to cry. She pulled back and fingered a long piece of his hair.

"You need a haircut," she told him. Then they both cracked up into laughter. Aaron was smiling at them.

"Friends of yours?," he asked Daryl. Daryl nodded. He put his arm around Jessica's waist.

"This is my, well this is," he thought about what Jessica actually was to him and then went on. "This is RickyJo's cousin Jessica. And these are her daughters, Cassie and Dez." Aaron looked them over. The woman had bright red hair that he recognized right away. RickyJo's baby had hair that same distinct shade. She looked too young to be the mother of the teenage girl standing next to her, but Aaron could see the obvious resemblance. The girl had a different body type than her mother, she was thinner through the hips and larger in the chest. But they had the same facial features. The younger girl did not look as much like her mother, but she had a the same sprinkling of freckles across her nose and the same big eyes.

"RickyJo, is she alright?," Jessica asked.

"Shes fine," Daryl assured her, " her and Merle are back at camp." Jessica let out a sigh of relief. He decided to leave the rest out of the story for now or they were going to be here all damn day. Jessica finally remembered her manners. She let go of Daryl and took Morgan's hand.

"This is Morgan," she told them. The way she said his name, Daryl guessed that the man was more than a friend. Morgan extended his hand and Daryl took it. Since Daryl seemed to know her well and was just now being introduced to this man, Aaron guessed he was not the girls' father.

"I think I owe you some thanks," Daryl said, nodding towards the parked car. Morgan looked at Jessica with a soft smile.

"Seeing her and the girls this happy was thanks enough," Morgan told the man. Aaron stuck out his hand to the man. It was clear that Daryl was not going to give him a proper introduction. That was fine, he had no problem introducing himself. Duane darted out from behind his dad's back and grabbed the man's hand.

"Aaron," he told the boy.

"I'm Duane," Duane announced. Then he pointed to Morgan with his other hand. "That's my dad." Aaron smiled. He had guessed that, but you never knew these days.

"How far away is your camp?," Jessica asked. She really wanted to see her cousin.

"If we leave now," Aaron told her, "we can be there by dinner time."


	19. Chapter 19

Alexandria

RickyJo and Eugene finished up with the dinner dishes. Most everyone else had left to go over to the meeting or get a few last minute things done before it started. Carl and Sammie were going to stay at the house and babysit. They had seemed a little too excited about it, so RickyJo guessed they their own plans for after the babies were asleep. Like probably sucking faces on the couch or maybe even on the bed up in one of their rooms. At least she hoped that was all they were doing. She had meant to have a talk with Sammie, or maybe ask Carol if she wanted to do it. Someone ought to make sure she knew about pregnancy prevention at the very least. But things had been a little hectic lately and it had slipped her mind.

After a very insincere apology from Rick to Deanna, about taking the gun, Rick was back and he had gone out with Merle to check the walls. He had the new gun that RickyJo had given him carefully hidden away, with very strict instructions to keep this one out of sight. RickyJo suspected they were actually going off to have some sort of man talk or maybe to see who could pee farther. She thought the two of them were kind of funny, but the sooner they got on the same page and stopped hating each other the better. Personally, she had resovled to try and stop silently wishing that Shane was still here and Rick was dead every time she talked to the man. Her Nana used to tell her that holding a grudge was like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. And the truth was, there were a lot worse people out there than Rick.

"Ready to go?," Eugene asked her.

"Let me go up and give Emmie a kiss goodbye and then we can go," she said. Eugene nodded. RickyJo headed up to check on her son. Carl and Sammie had the babies in the playpen with the little portable tv strapped to the side, cartoons playing. MJ and Judith were laying on their backs, staring up at it. Carl and Sammie were on the bed, reading comics. Sammie gave her a little wave. "You two have your guns?," RickyJo asked them. Carl pulled his out of the back of his pants and waved it in the air. Sammie pulled up her pantleg to show her ankle holster. RickyJo held back a giggle. "If MJ starts kicking off, you can come and get me," she told them.

"And theres a bottle and applesauce in the fridge," Sammie said before the woman could tell her again, "we know, we got it RickyJo." RickyJo came around the side of the bed and leaned in to hug the girl. Then she gave her small son one more glance and headed back downstairs. She knew she wasn't going far, but since she was used to him clinging to her like a tiny koala, it felt strange to be alone. It was like she was missing her arm or something. Eugene was leaning against the wall by the door, waiting for her, and when she came down, he opened the door for her. As they headed down the steps she adjusted the vest she was wearing over her tank top to make sure her gun was covered.

When they got to the meeting spot, Spencer was trying to get a small bonfire going. RickyJo knelt down to help him. Starting a fire with flint took some practice. She showed him her technique and soon they were feeding small sticks to the blaze. When it was clear he didn't need any more assistance, she got up and took the seat next to Jessie. She took the woman's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. This was going to be a hard meeting for Jessie. Her husband had been abusing her, but he was still her husband and the father of her children. If people wanted to exile him, RickyJo guessed it might be more upsetting for her than she expected.

Merle and Rick were not at the meeting yet, but most other people had filed in and found seats. Deanna stood up and waited for everyone to quiet down before she started talking. She had spoken to Rick and RickyJo separately earlier in the day. She had also asked her husband and her sons for their opinions. And she still wasn't sure what she should do. When the girls had gone over to support Jessie in kicking her husband out, Deanna had not expected him to physically attack them. Even she still had a nasty bruise on her head from where he had knocked her against the hard part of the couch. She knew he had been angry and drunk, but she wasn't sure if he deserved another chance. And if he didn't she wasn't sure what she should do with him. Rick had made it very clear that kicking him out of the community was a terrible idea. First of all, he could easily climb the walls and come back in. And if he left, he might be picked up or followed by another group and then lead the other group back here. That meant if he wasn't fit to live here, they were going to have to kill him.

RickyJo and Spencer had the same idea, though they didn't know it. They wanted to put him on some kind of probabtion. No drinking and stay away from Jessie. If he agreed to that and stuck with it, he could stay. He's not the first guy to act like a jerk when he's drunk, RickyJo had told her. She had been thinking about that crazy ex-girlfriend of Merle's and the time he slapped her so hard it knocked out one of her teeth. While what Pete had been doing had gone on a lot longer and was a lot worse, she didn't think he deserved to be executed for it. Maybe he would be alright if he just layed off the sauce. They also had to consider what was best for the community. Pete was a doctor. That meant he had value. Just for that reason, Deanna thought it might be worth giving him another chance. She wanted to hear what everyone else had to say about it.

"Most of you know why we are here," she said. Most people nodded. RickyJo looked around. Rick and Merle were not here, and she knew they had been planning to come. Maybe they were just off talking to each other, but it made her feel uneasy. Deanna went on. "A member of our community has done some things that I consider unacceptable and I have brought you here to talk about what we should do about it."

"Pete was abusing his wife," Deanna said. There were a few hushed whispers and some people looked at Jessie. "When a group of us went over to talk to him about it, he attacked us." She waited a moment and went on. "It had also been brought to my attention that he has a severe drinking problem." An older man spoke up from where he was sitting.

"A man's personal life is his own business," the man announced loudly. He had not been impressed with the uppity women around here, going over and trying to throw Pete out of his own house.

"Its gonna be your business," RickyJo told the man loudly, "when you or your wife gets sick or hurt and Pete kills ya because he is too drunk to give you proper medical treatment." The man huffed and crossed his arms, but he didn't say anything else. Deanna had to hide her smile. That had shut him up. And good. Tobin spoke up from the back of the group, which suprised Deanna.

"My dad beat my mother for years," he said, "and no one would help us because they thought it wasn't their business. Thats not the kind of community I want to live in." Now some of the girls were clapping and looking at him with glances of approval. RickyJo noticed Carol was looking at the man with a curious expression on her face. I told you he was your type, RickyJo thought to herself. As soon as he had shown interest in Carol intead of trying to hit on one of the younger girls, RickyJo had known that dude was a first class gentleman. And what he had done with the construction team, giving up his position as leader willingly, only confirmed it. Carol could do a lot worse, that was for sure. Maybe what he said tonight would finally be the enough to win her over.

Deanna waited for people to quiet down. She made a mental note to thank Tobin later for speaking up. "The question now is what are we going to do about what had happened," she said.

Rick and Merle had been talking as they walked the wall. They didn't like each other, which Merle had made sure to point out several times. But they agreed they could work together. _I worked for the governor, I can work with a cop._ They came around to check the front gate before heading to the meeting. Thats when they saw it. Someone had left the gate wide open. Some rotten flesh and a bit of torn fabric were plastered to the latch on the gate. Merle slammed the gate shut in anger.

"Left the fuckin' gate wide open," Merle cursed, "god damn stupid cock headed fucking retard assholes."

"Our people are at that meeting," Rick said.

"Our people got guns," Merle reminded him, "lets find the biters." Rick nodded. There was a smear of blood on the wall off to the left, so they must have gone that way. The men headed in that direction. They spotted the first one, and Rick stood back and let Merle smash its head in with the metal sleeve he wore on his arm. When it was down he stomped its head in with his boot. Rick ran ahead, spotting another one over between two of the houses. He grabbed one of the garden shovel the girls had left out and took it down. When he turned, Merle had another one on the ground, kicking its head in.

"Think thats all of them?," Rick asked.

"Don't know," Merle said "But I think the meeting might have to wait until tomorrow. People need to go home and lock up until daylight tomorrow when we can make sure this place is clear." Rick nodded. Then he reached down and picked up one of the walkers. Slinging it over his shoulder, he walked towards the meeting place, with Merle following behind him, snickering. Guess the sheriff had decided to teach these people a lesson.

Spencer had stood up at his mother's request to repeat what he had suggested to her earlier to the group. He was getting ready to start talking when Rick stomped into the middle of the meeting with a dead walker, flopping it down on the ground. Some of the nasty liquid inside the thing splashed out and got on Spencer's boots. He jumped back. Rick looked around at everyone there.

"Someone left the gate open," Rick announced. Now everyone was talking at once. Deanna was trying to shush everyone up so she could tell them all to go home. Spencer tapped at Rick's arm.

"It was Father Gabriel," he said, "earlier he was coming in from walking outside the walls and I asked him to get the gate. He must have left it open."

"Is that fucker here?," Merle asked, having heard what was said. He looked around to see if he could spot the man. "He has another ass beating coming." Deanna heard that. She pointed her finger at Merle.

"Don't you dare," she told him, "you let me handle it." Merle shrugged. She wasn't sure if that meant he had agreed, or if it meant he was going to beat the man up later anyway.

"Should have beat his ass harder last time," Merle commented. Deanna shook her head and quickly decided she would just speak to RickyJo and let her deal with the man. There was a hard crunch behind them. Merle and Rick turned, thinking it might be another walker. But it was Pete. He was drunk and had stumbled into the small pile of firewood, kicking it everywhere. He also had Michonne's sword, which both men knew was razor sharp. They moved back, giving him a wide berth. Deanna's husband stepped in front of her, partly to shield her and also to try and reason with the man.

"You wanna have a meetin abo me," Pete slurred, "I think I shoulda be here to defend muself." Reg started trying to talk to him, reasoning with him and telling him to put the sword down. But RickyJo was up out of her chair. Feet shoulder width apart and both of her hands holding her gun, the safety already off. Pete held the sword up, and started bringing it down towards Reg's throat in a slashing motion. She popped off two shots, one wizzed by Pete's head and the other buried itself in his shoulder, knocking him back. Reg fell back, hand to his throat were a small trickle of blood was coming out where the very tip of the sword had nicked him. Abraham was up now, grabbing the sword away from Pete and holding him to the ground. People were screaming and yelling. RickyJo darted around the fire and knelt down by Reg.

"Is he going to be okay?," she asked.

"Cut myself worse shaving," he insisted. Then he saw the gun in her hand. "Thank you," he told her. She nodded. She pulled a hanky out of her back pocket. It had a little dried milk on it, but was otherwise clean, so she pulled Reg's hand off his neck and pushed the hanky against it.

"You make sure he keeps some pressure on that," she told Spencer, who nodded like a bobble head. "Rosita can suture it up later if it doesn't stop bleeding." Then she stood up and helped Deanna up. Abraham had Pete on the ground and Rick and Merle both had their guns pointed at him. Deanna was angry and upset, RickyJo could see her hands were shaking. She was thinking she should have let Rick beat that man to death in the street.

"Do it," she said to Rick. But RickyJo held her hand up to stop him. She lead Deanna over closer to the man. Then she pressed her gun into Deanna's hand.

"You are the leader," she told the woman, "Its your job to do." It was easy to give an order to have someone killed. It was another thing to do it yourself. And she wanted to see what the woman was made of. Abraham looked nervous. RickyJo gestured for him to back up, which he did. Deanna was clearly not trained on how to use a weapon, and no one needed to be shot by accident.

RickyJo got behind Deanna and put her foot between the woman's feet, moving them apart a little. Then she brought her other hand up to support the one that was holding the gun. "Never give an order that you aren't willing to carry out yourself," she told her.

"Just go on and shoot him mom," Aiden called out. Pete was a total asshole. And Aiden knew if his mother didn' t do this, these people would never respect her again. RickyJo stepped back to give Deanna some room. She saw the woman take a deep breath and then she pulled the trigger. It hit Pete in the neck instead of the head and blood started pouring out everywhere.

"Good enough," Merle told the woman, holding up his hand to make sure she wasn't going to fire again. Then he knelt down and stabbed the man through the ear, ending his pain and making sure he wouldn't turn. Really the asshole didn't deserve that shit, but he thought he ought to show these people the proper way to get the job done. He stood up and was startled to hear his brother's voice behind him.

"What in the hell is going on?," Daryl asked. Merle turned to look at him. He blinked hard a few times, not sure if his brain believed what his eyes were seeing. It wasn't until RickyJo rushed past him and threw herself into her cousin's arms that he really understood that what he was seeing was real.


	20. Chapter 20

Part Two

Alexandria

RickyJo took Jessica's hand and led her into her bedroom. The two teenagers that had been having what looked like a pretty heavy makeout session on the bed had already been kicked out. Then RickyJo let go of her hand and picked up a sleeping baby from inside the playpen that was against the wall.

"I have someone I would like you to meet," she told her cousin. Then she gently handed the baby over into her cousin's waiting arms. Jessica started to cry. This baby might actually be the most adorable thing she had ever seen. She leaned down and kissed the baby on his forehead and cheeks, her tears falling down onto his face. The dampness woke him up and he started to fuss, not happy to find he was being held not only by someone other than his mother, but a stranger. RickyJo took him back and pulled her shirt down to nurse him.

"He has my hair," Jessica said quietly. Other than that he looked just like Daryl, who Jessica naturally assumed was the father. She stepped over to where he was standing in the doorway and hugged him. "I am so happy for you two," she said, hugging him tightly, "why didn't you tell me you and RickyJo had a baby?" Jessica could feel his body tighten up. She stepped back and looked at him. The feeling in the air was suddenly very awkward. Had she said something wrong? RickyJo cleared her throat.

"It's not his baby," RickyJo told her. Now Jessica was really confused.

"What the hell you mean its not his baby?," she asked, "Looks exactly like him." If Daryl had knocked up her cousin and then tried the old its not my baby trick, Jessica was going to kick his ass. RickyJo took a deep breath. She had a feeling this was not going to go over well. Of course Merle was standing in the doorway, not saying a fucking word like a damn coward.

"Thats because this is his nephew," RickyJo said. She watched the wheels in Jessica head start to turn. Nephew, what did she mean nephew. Then she noticed Merle standing in the hall, being uncharacteristically silent.

"Oh hell no," she said, turning to Merle, who was seriously considering making a run for it. "You fucked my cousin?" It was really more of a accusation than a question. She turned back to the baby, guessing his age and trying to do the math in her head. Now she was heading out into the hall, pointing her finger at him. "I left you there at the campsite to keep an eye on her because she was upset and you fucked her. You fucking pig. Or was it before that?"

"Thats not what happened," RickyJo was saying, trying to get ahold of Jessica's arm so she could pull her back into the room. "He is big for his age, this happened after the outbreak." Jessica was still upset, but that made her feel a little better.

"Thats not all," Daryl informed Jessica. He was enjoying this and hoping Jessica might take a few swings at his brother. "They got married." RickyJo threw him a dirty look. She was planning to break that to Jessica a little more gently. She knew Daryl was mad at her, but that was no excuse for being an asshole. She kept ahold of Jessica's arm.

"Don't look at them," RickyJo told her, "Look at me." Jessica did as she asked and turned away from the boys. "I am happy so please just be happy for me, okay?" Daryl snorted. RickyJo ignored him. "Look at the beautiful baby I have," she told her, "be happy for me." Jessica did have to admit, motherhood looked good on her cousin. And she knew that ever since she had her girls, all RickyJo had ever wanted was a family of her own. Jessica's face lit up and she hugged her cousin as tightly as she could without smashing the baby between them. When she let go, she turned and looked at Merle.

"I still think you're a dick," she informed him. He threw his head back and started laughing like crazy, catching Jessica by the wrist and pulling her out into the hall where he could hug her against her will.

"You know I missed you too," he told her. Even Daryl had a little smile now. It was good to have Jessica back to call Merle on all his shit. And he doubted it, but maybe Merle would want to get back together with her.

"Lets take Emmie down and show him to the girls," Merle said. RickyJo smiled and nodded. She linked hands with Jessica and headed down the hall towards the stairs. Merle let them get a few steps ahead before he grabbed him brother hard by the shirt and hissed into his ear.

"I know," Merle told him. Daryl shook him off and threw and elbow at him, which his brother easily dodged. Fuck Merle and whatever he thought he knew. _Know I am going to be getting my woman back, you prick._ Daryl didn't say anything to him, just stormed down the hall after the girls.

Morgan was sitting at the table with Duane and the girls. They were all devouring sandwiches that someone had been nice enough to make them. He saw Jessica and pointed towards the empty seat with the full plate in front of it. She sat down and stated digging in. RickyJo poked into the kitchen, Eugene and Tara were in there, she she thanked them for making the food. She really should have thought to do that, but she was a little thrown off with all her family members suddenly back from the dead. She heard a light knock on the door. When she opened it, Deanna and Spencer were standing there, holding two bottles of champagne. She also noticed Spencer was wearing a gun on a holster on his hip. RickyJo looked at it and then questioningly at Deanna.

"I heard there might be some loose walkers around," Deanna said. Then she held up the bottle. "We thought you might want to celebrate." RickyJo laughed and motioned them inside. She hugged Deanna.

"Are you okay after what you did," she asked. Deanna nodded. She had a feeling she might have some nightmares for a while, but she did not regret killing Pete.

"Rosita got the bleeding to stop," Spencer told RickyJo. She knew he was talking about his dad. "But she and Aiden are staying with him just to be safe." RickyJo threw the arm she wasn't using to hold her baby around Spencer.

"I am glad," she told him. And she was. She liked Reg and thought he was a kind and gentle man. It would have been horrible if something happened to him.

"Since these are family members of yours," Deanna said, pointing into the dining room, "I think I can forgo the formal interviews. But if you don't mind I would like to sit and listen a while you catch up so I can learn a little bit about them." Deanna had thought about it and decided she would learn much more about these people listening to them talk than she would ever learn in a five minute interview.

"Of course," RickyJo told her, "you know you are welcome here anytime. Especially when you are bringing the booze."

Everyone finished eating and took up a spot in the living room. RickyJo let the girls have a look at her baby, and each of them got a short turn holding him. Then, to Jessica's complete amazement, she handed the baby off to Merle, who held him confidently without waking him. RickyJo came out with plastic cups, which she filled with the sparkling wine and handed out to everyone, even the kids got a glass each.

"Sip that slowly," Morgan warned them. RickyJo kicked at Daryl a little to make him move his legs and she settled down on the floor between his and Merle's legs where they were sitting on the couch. They were in the middle with Cassie and Desiree leaning in on either side like bookends. Cassie had wanted to sit next to Daryl, but now thought she had the better end of the deal, since she was close to the baby, and Merle was lettting her touch him gently. Morgan and Jessica were sitting on the love seat, with Duane on the floor near their feet. Deanna and Spencer had dragged chairs in from the dining room. RickyJo had something she had meant to ask Morgan earlier that she was confused about.

"You already knew Rick?," she asked the man. Morgan nodded.

"Actually I met him already too," Jessica said, "and his girlfriend, plus the kid and Michonne. We gave them some weapons a long time ago." Now RickyJo's mind was blown. The time at the prison when Rick had come back with all those weapons. He had gotten them from Jessica. "He invited us back to his camp but we didn't go," Jessica added.

"The prison?,"RickyJo asked. Jessica nodded.

"Wait," Jess asked, "were you there?" RickyJo nodded. Now Jessica's face was starting to collapse. She turned and buried her face into Morgan's shoulder. He was rubbing her back.

"Its alright," he told her, "we are all here together now. There's no way you could have known." RickyJo watched her cousin with Morgan. It looked like Jessica had finally found herself a keeper. And he had a son about the same age as her girls, which made things nice for them.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Spencer said to Jessica now that she was mopping up her face, "but of you wouldn't mind, I would love to hear your story from the beginning." Daryl and RickyJo were nodding. Maybe it would be best to listen to everything first instead of asking a ton of questions all out of order. Jessica took and deep breath and started at the beginning.

When she got done, RickyJo started with what had happened to her, with Daryl adding in parts of the story that he felt she was leaving out. He had put his hand on her shoulder while she was talking, and when she got to the bad parts, she squeezed it for comfort. Merle started chiming in once she got to the part where they left and ended up alone at terminus. Then Jessica wanted to know what had happened to Merle while he was separated from the group and RickyJo felt bad, since she had never even asked him about it. Daryl filled in the part about the governor coming back and destroying the prison. When they got done, Deanna could not believe what she had heard. These people were sitting around telling some of the most horrifying things she had ever heard like it was just another day at the office. She was especially worried about the group that attacked Noah's home, since it was closer to them and no one knew who did it. No wonder RickyJo thought everyone here should be armed with guns.

"Did you all meet right after the outbreak?," Deanna asked them.

"No we have all know each other for years," RickyJo explained.

"Since Cassie here was maybe two?," Daryl added, gesturing to the teenage girl next to Merle. Well there went the end of my woman latching onto a strong man theory, Deanna thought. She had been wrong before, but she usually wasn't that far off when it came to sizing people up.

"How did you all meet?," Morgan asked. There were a few chuckles from the brothers and giggles from the girls.

"Merle used to sell us pot," Jessica admitted. Desiree had fallen asleep in Daryl's lap, but Cassie laughed. She had not known that. "Then we started _dating,_ " Jessica said. Merle coughed into his hand. Fucking. Fucking. Daryl and RickyJo were laughing. Jessica threw her cousin a dirty look, she ought to know by now not to encourage him. And he was embarrassing her in front of Morgan. RickyJo jumped in to save her.

"Then he set me and Daryl up," she said, "and the rest is history." She smiled up at Daryl, remembering how much fun they used to have together. He knocked at her shoulder a little with his knuckles.

"You 'member that time we took your Poppa's bike out to the coast and went skinny dipping in the ocean?," he asked her. RickyJo's face turned red and Merle scowled at him. That was the closest they had ever come to having sex until years later when they went to Mexico together.

"I remember," she admitted. A hot blush was rising up into her cheeks, giving them a lovely flush. Jessica watched the interaction between the three of them. Now she knew what was going on. The guys were into having some kind of pissing contest over her cousin. And RickyJo had two men and likely had no idea what to do with either one of them. She was obviously having sex with Merle, since he was holding the baby to prove it. But Jessica wondered if she was doing the dirty with Daryl as well. They were acting funny with each other, but that didn't really mean anything, they had been acting like that for years. Tomorow she was going to have to get her cousin alone and get all the dirty details from her.

Deanna could see the tension between the two men was getting a little awkward. "Its getting very late," she said, "and I think it might be time for us to go." Then she stood up and straighten out her shirt. Spencer followed her lead.

"Its so dark, are you sure you don't want to stay?," RickyJo asked them. She knew Spencer had a gun, but she wasn't sure how good he was at using it. And there might still be a few biters hanging around. Morgan got to his feet, grabbing the long stick he laid on the floor near his chair.

"I can walk you," he offered, earning him a big smile from Jessica. She was looking up at him with such a sweet expression, so proud and grateful that she had such a wonderful man that loved her and treated everyone so well. It was such a polite offer that Deanna felt she couldn't refuse, and he brought his son along with him. The boy was picked up an aluminum bat that he had left by the door. It was hard for her to believe that these people had made it years out these with no walls and only sticks and bats to defend themselves. She wondered how long she would make it, and it was a very unsettling thought. What would happen to her people if the people that attacked Noah's community came here and knocked her walls down? She hoped she would never have to find out. But she knew one thing. Rick and RickyJo had been right all along. Eventually they were going to have to fight for what was theirs and they might as well start preparing now.


	21. Chapter 21

**** This story is rated M for mature. The following chapter is about the wolves and will contain some sexual violence. As always enjoy, read and review. I own nothing from the walking dead. ****

The Wolves

6 months ago

They had been camping outside the walls a few days now, watching these people. At night they climbed the brick wall and peeked inside the windows of people's houses. These people were nothing but lambs to the slaughter. Or little pigs, as Derek liked to call them. He had not decided what he wanted to do yet. Not that he told the rest of them anything, but Jared had heard him talking to his sister the night before in the bed they shared. Jared thought doing the nasty with your own sister was pretty disgusting, but he knew better than to say anything about it. He had seen what happened to the last guy that thought it would be funny to make a joke about it.

Derek had laughed like the joke was funny. Then he had walked around behind the guy and blitz attacked him. He had hit him in the back of the head, not hard enough to kill him, just hard enough to knock him out. Then he had tied him to a tree and waited for the dead to come for him. They did it to plenty of the people they caught, so when the man woke up, he had known what he was in for. He had been crying and begging for mercy.

"It's nasty to lay down with your own damn sister," the man had screamed, "everyone knows it." Derek had just looked at him with that strange sadistic expression he got whenever they were waiting for the dead to come for one of the tributes they left for them.

"Those are the laws of men," Derek told the man, "And we are not men, we are wolves."

"I'm a wolf too," the man insisted, "Come on, let me go, I won't say anything else about it man."

"No," Danni told the man, sitting down next to her brother and giving him a lingering kiss, "Now you're nothing but a little pig." The man had carried on screaming and struggling, but the dead had come for him, just like they came for everyone.

This morning, Derek was up, paring his nails off with a sharp knife and waiting for Danni to make his breakfast. They were five years apart in age. She had only been ten when he had started fucking her. It had taken her until she was fourteen before she started enjoying it. The morning was hot, and she had a tank top on, revealing the large wolf tattoo she had on her upper arm. Hers was a female wolf, howling at the moon. Derek's was a large male wolf, baring a mouthful of sharp teeth. On her eigtheenth birthday, they had murdered both their parents, and cleared out their bank accounts and the small safe their father kept in his bedroom. Then they had driven out of state, stopping on the way to ditch their father's car and steal a new one. When they crossed the state line, they had stopped at the first tattoo shop they found and gotten the wolves tattooed. Then Derek had killed the men that worked there and cleaned out the cash register. Living on the run was nothing new for them. The only difference now was they could do anything they wanted without fear of getting caught. For them, the end of the world meant freedom. This world belonged to them now, not the stupid sniveling weaklings hiding inside these high walls.

The wolves had taken over groups before, but never one this size. There were ten people at least to each one of them. But what danger did a flock of sheep pose to them. They were predators. Derek finished with his nails and put his gloves back on. They were leather straps designed to hold a metal sewing thimble on the end of each finger, attached to the thimbles, there were razors. He dipped them regularly into the blood and guts of the people they killed after they had turned, that way one scratch was sure to be fatal. His sister had something similar she wore, but the claws were only on each of her pinky fingers. She liked to trace them up and down the people her brother tied up, looking for the right place to scratch them.

The more Derek watched the people inside this town, the stupider he realized they were. Usually they just rushed in when they saw the people in a camp were off guard. Then they murdered them, leaving the ones they wanted to have more fun with alive. But a new idea had been brewing in his head. It had come yesterday when a few new people had come to the gate and been taken in to the community. Why not walk in with an open welcome. Eat and drink with them. Then wait until the night came and take each house one by one. By the time anyone knew what was happening, they would all be soldiers in the wolf army.

He would rather rush in, slashing with his claws and listening to the women scream. But there were so many of them, there was a chance they might be overcome by sheer numbers. He had to think smart, like a wolf. And wolves hunted their prey. Derek took his gloves back off and Dani handed him his breakfast. The food from the last camp they took was starting to run low. While they would have taken this town just for the pleasure, they also needed supplies. Everyone held their plates, waiting for Derek to take a bite so they could start eating. Once he did they started digging in.

"After breakfast," he told the men, "I want everyone to wash up in the creek and clean their clothes." Some of the men looked at him in surprise. It was an odd request. Usually they stayed dirty on purpose and smeared dead gunk on themselves for camouflage. But no one questioned him. Dani finished her food and started taking the bowls from the other men that were done eating. Then she washed them out with some water from a bucket and set them out to dry. All of the men had already headed down to the creek to start washing up. So thats where she went. She wasn't sure about taking her clothes off in front of all the men and she stood there for a moment, hesitating.

"I thought I told everyone to clean up and wash their clothes," Derek said to her. She nodded and quickly moved to remove her clothes and follow his orders. She stepped into the cold water, goose pimples rising up on her skin and her nipples going hard in the open air. Then Derek seized her roughly by the hair, shoving her under the water. Her arms and legs were flailing at first, grabbing at his arms out of reflex. But despite her desperate need for air, she forced herself to relax. He wouldn't let her up until she stopped fighting, even if it meant drowning her. Once she gave up, she felt herself yanked back out of the cold water and thrown face down on the rocky shore of the creek. Derek took her first, he was the alpha of the pack and that was his right. Then the rest of them, one at a time, while he watched.

When they were done, Derek told the men his plans. They would clean up. Wolves in sheep's clothing, he told them. These people in their little gated community. They were so stupid, they would let them right in, just like they let those other people in the day before. Then tonight, when they were all settling down in their little beds and laying their little pig heads down on their little pillows, they would go house to house, killing them all. It was never okay to argue with Derek, but if he was in a good mood, sometimes he would take requests.

"Want me that blonde girl," Jared announced, "saw her go into the house with the blue door." Derek smiled. He slapped Jared on the back.

"Then tonight," he said, "we take that house first."


	22. Chapter 22

Alexandria

"We just got here and you have to leave already?," Jessica asked Morgan, wrapping her arms around his neck and then kissing him hard on the mouth. He put his arms around her waist, holding her to him. When Jessica had hugged other guys like this, she had always felt like they were only tolerating her. Morgan always held her like he never wanted to let her go.

"You know why I have to go," he told her. Desiree needed asthma medicine. Rosita searched, but she only found one half empty inhaler in the medical supplies. That meant they were going to have to make a run. Morgan knew what they needed, so he was going. And from his recruting trip, Daryl knew where there was a pharmacy was that had not been totally cleared already. He and Aaron had come across it on their way out. They had planned to stop on their way back and dig through it, but then they had found Jessica and Morgan and it had slipped their minds.

"I can go with you?," Jessica offered again. She had not been apart from Morgan for longer than a few hours since the day they met. The thought of not seeing him until the next day was not sitting very well with her. Morgan kissed her again and cupped her face with his hands.

"I want you to stay here with the kids and your family and get settled in," he told her, "when I get back, I expect our new house to be fully operational." Jessica smiled. She knew he loved her and wanted to keep her safe. But if he went out to get medicine for her daughter and something happened to him, she would never forgive herself. She hugged him again.

RickyJo watched the two of them together. They were so sweet it almost brought tears to her eyes. She was so happy for her cousin. Jessica had such terrible luck with men, it was amazing that at the end of the world, she had finally found the kind of man she deserved. Morgan had already said goodbye to the kids back at the house. When RickyJo saw Jessica was walking him and Daryl to the gate, she had decided to walk with them. MJ was struggling to get down so she set him on his feet. He toddled over to the object of his desire, which in this case was Daryl's motorcycle and started touching the wheels. Daryl leaned down and spoke to the boy.

"When you get big I will teach you how to ride it," he told him. MJ pointed a finger at his uncle.

"Mine," he told him, looking at the bike, "mine, mine." Daryl laughed. The kid knew what he liked and didn't like, that was for sure. Daryl stood up to find RickyJo was standing very close to him.

"His new favorite word," she told Daryl, "everything is mine mine mine now." She said it like the kid was annoying, but she was smiling down at him anyway. The soft way RickyJo looked at her son always did something to Daryl. The expression made her look younger, and it reminded him of when they met. She had a long stretchy cotton dress on with thin straps. The dress hugged her curves and she looked so much healthier now than when they had been on the road. Her hair was braided and fell forward over her shoulders in a long golden rope. She wiped her palms against her hips and looked down at her feet. Daryl felt a strong urge to take her into his arms and kiss her. But he knew he couldn't and it made him mad.

"What are you doing here?," Daryl asked her suddenly. His tone caught her by surprise.

"I don't know," she said, "I guess I didn't want to let you leave again without saying goodbye." She flicked her eyes up, looking into his. Daryl looked around. No one was watching them, and the only people out here were Jessica and her boyfriend. If Jessica didn't already know what was going on, he guessed RickyJo was going to tell her soon anyway. So he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, pressing his forehead against hers. Then he kissed her. Not a open mouth, tounge down your throat kiss, but more like a gentle invitation. She tore her mouth away from his and hugged him tightly around the neck, choking off a sob.

"I want you to be extra careful out there, okay," she told him.

"Why?," he asked her. He wasn't trying to give her a hard time. He just really wanted to know.

"Because I love you," she told him. Then she sucked in a deep breath and said the one thing she had promised herself she wasn't going to tell him when she came walking out here. "And because I'm pregnant." He pulled back, holding her by the shoulder and looking into her face.

"Is it mine?," he asked her. She looked down, biting her lip and feeling ashamed.

"I don't know for sure," she admitted. "Just be careful out there for me, okay?" He nodded and hugged her against him again. MJ stood up, pointing at them.

"Kiss Kiss," he said, "mama kiss." RickyJo laughed and moved to pick him up. She hoped he would forget about that and not rat her out later in front of his father. Merle had really only said she wasn't allowed to have sex with Daryl, but she guessed that meant hugging and kissing were probably frowned upon as well.

"Come on you little tattletale," she said, reaching to pick him up, "Lets go home." She backed up a little, holding her son and giving Daryl room to get on the bike. Morgan climbed on behind him. Jessica said goodbye to Daryl and gave him a quick hug. Then she opened the gate for them and she felt RickyJo's hand in hers as they watched the guys drive away on the bike. Jessica slammed the gate shut, being sure to latch it. They didn't need another repeat of the night before last, that was for sure.

"Alright," she said to RickyJo, "fucking dish the dirt." She had meant to get the scoop from her the day before, but they had been so tired and she had not gotten a chance to get her alone yet. RickyJo tried acting nonchalant at first. She shrugged.

"I don't know what you are talking about," she told her cousin. Jessica laughed and started doing a very over the top imitation of her, batting her eyelashes and sticking her breasts out, holding them up with her hands so they looked bigger. _Oh Daryl, be careful out there on the road. I'm pregnant and it might be yours._ This was said with no shortage of kiss and face sucking noises. RickyJo was lauging so hard at her cousin's display she had to set her son down.

"I do not act like that," she insisted.

"Bullshit you don't," Jessica said. "Now I want all the dirty details or when we get back I am going to tell Merle all about your little makeout session." RickyJo's mouth flew open.

"You would not!"

"Oh yes I would," Jessica told her, even though they both knew she was bluffing. "So come on, I already know you are pregnant, so who's is it?," she asked.

"I really don't know," RickyJo admitted. Jessica patted her on the back.

"Well at least they are both white," she announced. Then the women looked at each other and started laughing like crazy. When Spencer came out to see what the noise was, he found them sitting on the grass holding their sides, eyes watering. MJ was watching them and clapping his hands.

"Are you both alright?," Spencer asked. He gave them each a hand up off the ground. RickyJo brushed her butt off and picked her son back up. Jessica took Spencer's arm and the three of them started walking back towards their house. Since he had seen them laughing, RickyJo thought it was only fair to tell him what had been so funny.

"You want to hear the story about the time Jessica had her second daughter?," she asked him.

When they got back to the house, the kids were moving RickyJo and Merle's things next door to the house Deanna had given to Jessica and Morgan. Merle was supervising, which seemed to involve drinking beer on the porch. MJ struggled to get down on the ground. He ran for his father, climbing the step and then crawling up into his lap.

"Mine, mine," he chanted, pointing to the beer bottle. Merle waited until RickyJo wasn't watching and then gave the kid a little taste. He made a terrible face and started trying to use his hands to brush off his tounge.

"You better not be giving him beer," RickyJo warned.

"No, no," Merle insisted, "got no idea what his problem is." RickyJo laughed. For someone that everyone thought was so sneaky, Merle was a god damn terrible liar.

Cassie came out of the house with a large stack of diapers. She could easily carry them herself, but Jessica noticed Spencer and a tall rather awkward looking black kid rushed in to help her anyway. Cassie elbowed both of them out of her way and insisted on carrying the things herself. She reminded Jessica of RickyJo at that age. She had been such a stubborn mule, never wanting to let anyone help her do anything. Jessica glanced over at her cousin, who seemed to know what she was thinking.

"She will learn," RickyJo said with a smile. She had eventually figured having a man around and letting him do things for her was actually kind of nice. Jessica smiled. She was worried about her daughter, with all these boys around. At that age, her hormones had been raging out of control. Cassie seemed more level headed, but maybe that was only because she had not had an opportunities yet to be anything else. Duane was close to her age, but in the way of young teen boys and girls, he was way behind her in terms of development. He still looked and acted like a little boy. Cassie was a young woman. And a very pretty one. And these boys were a lot older than Duane.

"When it comes to boys," Jessica said, "I hope she takes after you."

"Hope who takes after who?," Beth asked, coming down off the steps with Judith in her arms.

"Hope Cassie doesn't go too boy crazy," RickyJo explained to her, pointing over to the house next door. Noah had rushed up the steps to try and get the door for her, tripped over his own feet, and she had tripped over him, spilling the diapers everywhere. Spencer was helping her pick them up. Beth shifted Judith to her other hip and tried to hide a giggle.

"They have been sniffing around her like a pack of hound dogs," Beth remarked, "even Carl was talking to her and Sammie didn't seem too happy about it. Its hard to blame them, she is very pretty." The other women nodded in agreement. "Oh," Beth remarked to RickyJo, "I almost forgot what I came down here to talk to you about. I know you are moving next door and I wasn't sure what to do about Judith." RickyJo bit her lip. She was still nursing the girl in the morning and at night, but during the day she was mostly eating regular food now. Unlike a certain other small someone, Judith was no trouble, so RickyJo would not mind taking her over to live with her next door. She looked at Beth, trying to figure out if the girl was trying to get rid of the responsiblilty of the baby, or hoping RickyJo would say she didn't want her so she could keep her. There was something different about Beth. Her hair looked glossy and shiny. She was looking fuller in the chest too, and not anywhere else. She kept moving Judith around to keep her little heels from bumping into her stomach.

"Maybe you should keep her over here," RickyJo suggested, "I have a feeling you might need the practice." Beth opened her mouth wide. She figured out what the woman was implying, and she wondered how she knew.

"Did Rick tell you?," she asked.

"No," RickyJo answered, "I guessed." Beth looked down at her still flat stomach, wondering what the giveaway was. "Its your boobs," RickyJo told her, "they have to be at least two sizes bigger." Jessica started laughing. Her cousin, nailing two dudes and still checking out other girl's tits.

"How do mine look?," Jessica asked, pulling her shirt down a little more to show them off.

"Why?," RickyJo asked her. Jessica had that cat that ate the canary look she got when she had a secret. "You preggers too?" Jessica nodded. "No fucking way," RickyJo said loudly.

"Yes fucking way," Jessica told her. "And here is what we are going to do. We are both having girls and we are going to dress them in matching outfits. Every single day." RickyJo laughed and hugged her cousin tight. Beth watched them. She had been frightened when she found out she was pregnant and her first thoughts had been of how to get rid of it. Seeing how excited the other girls were was making her feel better. Maybe she didn't have anything to be so scared about. They did have a safe place to live now. And while what happened to Lori had been terrible, RickyJo had her baby just fine. Beth reached up and touched the jagged scar that ran down the side of her face. She wasn't alone at that hospital anymore. She was here with her family. And Rick was here. He loved her and would take good care of her. Just look at what he had done to that Pete guy for grabbing her.

"If I keep Judith here," Beth said, "would it be alright if I still bring her over to nurse?"

"Of course," RickyJo told her. She would be happy to nurse Judith anytime, even if she wasn't really her mother anymore like she had been when the girl was first born. Leaving with Merle had ruined that and she still felt a little guitly about it whenever she looked at the little girl. Taking her away from Shane would have been wrong, but it had felt wrong to leave without her too. Sometimes there was just no good choice.

Carl and Sammie were over at one of the vacant houses. They liked to sneak into this one because even though no one lived there, there were beds in some of the bedrooms. They made out everywhere. In their bedrooms, in the kitchen pantry. On the back porch. Out behind the garden. But lately they had been coming here to this house more and more. It seemed different, kissing on a bed. Alone in a room. With the door shut. It invited ideas of doing more than kissing.

Sammie thought about the talk RickyJo had with her about sex. RickyJo knew that Sammie's first experience with sex had been the most terrible kind possible. And she didn't want Sammie being afraid of men the way she had been for so much of her life. She had missed out on a lot of years of happiness because of her fears. Whats the best food you can think of to eat, she had asked Sammie. Sammie had thought about it. The thing she missed the most out of anything from normal life was ice cream. Okay, RickyJo had said. Now imagine you are super hungry and you are going to sit down and eat some ice cream, your favorite flavor. Sammie had smiled. It made her hungry just thinking about it. Now, RickyJo said, imagine you are not hungry, but someone is forcing you to eat it anyway, forcing so much into your mouth that you gag and choke and then shoving more in anyway and maybe hitting you if you spit it out. Sammie had sat a while and thought about that, with RickyJo's arm around her. That's the difference between sex with someone you love and what those men did to you. Don't let them ruin it for you. RickyJo had that talk with Sammie a long time ago, back at the prison. But it seemed to make more sense to her now, since she had been spending more alone with Carl. Being with him was like eating ice cream, the more she kissed him, the more she wanted to kiss him.

Sammie had seen Carl looking at that new girl. Carl was her first boyfriend, and she was feeling jealous over him for the first time. And a little scared. That new girl was pretty. Maybe prettier than her. And her boobs were bigger. Even the older boys were trying to talk to her and they never paid any attention to Sammie. She was scared Carl might decide he liked that new girl better and not want to be her boyfriend anymore. And the thought of that made her feel terrible inside. They closed the door and sat down on the bed.

"Do you think that girl is prettier than me?," Sammie asked.

"What girl?," Carl asked her. He didn't have any other girl on his mind right now, that was for sure.

"RickyJo's niece, Cassie," she said. Carl shrugged. The girl was new, she seemed nervous. He had spoken to her, but he was trying to be nice.

"She's not prettier than you," he said firmly. Sammie wasn't convinced, but that did make her feel better. She put her arm around Carl and kissed him. She thought a little bit about all the relationships she had seen. One thing was for sure, the men who had women that let them have sex, they did not look at other women. She thought about Beth and Rick. Beth was only a little older than her, and Rick was a grown man. Still, his eyes followed her everywhere. And she thought about back when they had been on the road that winter, when RickyJo had still been pregnant with MJ. The way Daryl had looked at her had made Sammie feel funny inside. And she had been big and pregnant too, with a baby that wasn't even his. Even now he didn't look at any other girls, or try to them. Sammie did not want Carl looking at other girls. Not ever. And she thought she had an idea on how to keep his attention on her.


	23. Chapter 23

The Wolves

Daryl and Morgan had found the medicine they needed and then some. Both of their packs and the saddle bags on the bike were packed full. Hoping to get home before dark, they headed back towards Alexandria as soon as they had everything of value packed up. But they were losing the light, so they hid the motorcycle behind a dumpster and climbed a small metal ladder on the side of what used to be a k-mart. Leaning back on their full backpacks, the men ate the dried travelling food they brought with them and chatted a little back and forth. They talked mostly about Jessica, since she was what they had in common. And Daryl told a few funny stories about stupid things RickyJo and Jessica had dragged him into doing. Morgan thought about asking Daryl about the situation he seemed to be in with Jessica's cousin, but then decided it was really none of his business. Before long, both men were asleep.

Jon forced the man in the red poncho down onto his knees while Jared cussed and swore. Someone had sprung their trap, and then escaped. And most of their wolf army was dead. And not reanimated type dead, but shot through the head with an arrow dead. And that family had gotten away from them in the woods. Overall it was a shitty day. And Derek was not going to be impressed. Jon pulled at the crotch of his pants again. When he woke up, his balls had been sore as fuck, like someone kicked him where it counts. And he had a feeling he knew who did it. It was that nigger loving skank. She should have been honored that a real man was still willing to share her bed. Instead she had knocked them out and taken off with that fucking coon that hit them with a stick like a big pussy. Well, those fuckers didn't know they were in wolf territory. Sooner or later, they would find them. And then it was going to be payback time.

After the food they took from the last place had run out, Derek found this warehouse. The food trucks had all been full. Some of it had been bullshit moldy bread, but some good stuff had been in there too. But the best part was that anyone passing by would see the food trucks and come in looking. It had not taken long to figure out the place served as the perfect trap. They caught people in that parked car almost once a week. And they had marked and added each one of them to the army of the dead they kept inside the trucks. Jared would have liked to stay and live in the warehouse a while, but of course Derek wouldn't hear of it. _We are wolves and wolves sleep in the wild._ They sleep in fucking dens, you moron, Jared thought. But he was smarter than to say that out loud. Derek was their leader. And even if he was a prick sometimes, he kept them alive. If he had been there this morning, that red haired bitch wouldn't have gotten away. And now he would be fucking her against a tree, instead of rubbing his sore balls.

Jon pressed the button to make the lights blink inside the trailers. What was left of the undead wolf army scrambled back inside them. "Got a lot of mess to clean up before Derek gets here," Jon commented, looking at the man they were holding hostage.

"Go on and do him then," Jared said. They didn't have time for this shit. Jon slashed the man's throat and dropped him on the ground to bleed out. Then they opened the gates and started clearing the dead bodies away and out of sight. They were about half way done when Derek showed up. He still had the daughter of the woman they had tied to that tree a few days before with him. She was naked except for shoes on her feet and her head was starting to heal up from where he marked her. At night they tied her up, but during the day, he had been leading her around on a leash. Once in a while Derek would like to keep one of his victims alive for a few days to play with them, but he usually got bored by now. And this girl was a teenager, sixteen at least. Usually Derek liked his pets younger than that. Jared guessed that Derek was keeping this one because she looked a little like his sister, or what she might have looked like when she was younger. Whatever the reason, Jared didn't mind. Derek was sharing his bed everynight with his new pet, which meant Dani was fair game. Dani wouldn't fight her brother, but she would fight the rest of them on occasion, which made it more fun to fuck her. And what was really screwed up about that was Jared swore that bitch got off on that shit too. A few different times when he had been fucking her, he swore he felt her come. Maybe she was only fighting them to make her brother think she didn't like it, but it was hard to say. Sometimes Jared wondered which of the two of them was crazier.

Derek looked around, his disapproval clear from the look on his face. Dani was watching to see what he was going to do to them men. Then she spotted something near the wheels of one of the trailers that caught her eye. it was a backpack. She picked it up and started digging through it. Most of it was just the usual garbage that people on the road kept on them. Half a bottle of water, some applesauce, an extra pair of socks. Then she found the pictures. There were pictures of high metal walls, pretty houses in a row. And then the last one was of some people sitting on a porch. Two women were sitting on the bottom step holding babies. And on the step above them were two men who were leaning in to pose for the picture. Both the women had scars on their faces and one had a lot of tattoos. Derek walked over and snatched the pictures out of her hands.

"Where did you get these," he asked. Danni held up the backpack and pointed to the wheel of the trailer. Derek took the pictures, looking at each one for a long time. He stopped again on the picture of the people on the porch. He looked hard at the women with the long scar across each cheek. She was no sheep like the rest of the people in the photograph. The scars on the woman's face fascinated him. It was like she was a member if his pack and someone had already marked her so he would know it. The baby she was holding brought another thought to the front of his mind. It was something that had been brewing in there for quite some time. Dani was worthless to him. She would never give him any children. And the pack could not carry on without pups. At first he had thought maybe he was the source of the problem, but he had started letting the rest of the pack fuck her about six months ago and she still wasn't pregnant. He had thought he might keep his new pet around and try to see if anything might happen with her. But the girl was annoying. All she did was cry and shake and she was a burden on the pack. He didn't need a pet. What he needed was an equal. A woman strong enough to lead the pack with him. And as he looked the picture over, rubbing his thumb across it and leaving a greasy smudge, he knew he had found what he had been looking for.

The town in the pictures is where they wanted to go. But the problem now was, they didn't know where it was. They had hiked back to their campsite in the woods and stayed there, letting Derek think on how he was going to go about finding the town. He was bored with his pet, so he gave her to Jared and his other wolves, which at least provided him some entertainment for the evening. But he couldn't stop thinking about the girl with the tattoos and the scars on her face. Dani saw him looking at the pictures again and tried to sit down next to him. He shoved her away. When she didn't go he backhanded her hard across the mouth, splitting her lip. She wiped her mouth and went to sit on the opposite side of the campfire. The guys were busy with Derek's pet so even they weren't paying her any attention. What they even wanted with that stupid little pig she didn't know. The girl didn't even try to fight back, she just cried like a silly little ninny. They were going to fuck her no matter what, but she could at least make them work for it.

The next morning, Derek woke up with an idea. It had come to him in his sleep, as all of his good ideas did. They would head downtown and climb the highest building. Then they would wait for night. A town that size with that many people would be seen easily at night. They often found camps of people this way, by looking for their campfires at night, so why not a whole town.

"Gear up," Derek told his pack, "we are heading for town." The men wondered why, but knew better than to ask.

"What about this one," Jared asked, gesturing to the naked girl in his sleeping bag with him. Derek shrugged and walked away from camp to do his morning business. That meant Jared could keep her or kill her, his decision. He decided to keep her for now. She had been fucked six ways from Sunday the night before, but she was still fresher than Dani. In fact, he was sporting some good ass morning wood and thinking he might get a few more miles out of her before they left.

When Derek got back, the girl was dressed in Jared's extra pair of clothes and he had her on her knees, holding her by the hair and pumping in and out of her mouth. Guess she's coming with us, Derek thought. It was just as well. When they found this town and he got his prize, he had no intention on sharing her out, so they might as well hang on to this girl for the rest of the pack to amuse themselves with.

It took forever to get anywhere walking on foot. But that was the only way Derek liked to travel. It would take the whole day to get into town, and thats if they didn't make any extra stops along the way, which they were going to have to since they were out of food again. The first two places had been a bust. Three cans of soup and some stale crackers were discovered in a gas station. Jared kept a close eye on the girl. _Don't try to run or I will have to put the leash back on you._ While leading a woman around on a leash could be fun, he didn't like the marks it was leaving on the girl's neck. She was pretty and he wanted her to stay that way. Her skin was already all marked up from the bug bites she got while Derek had been walking her around naked. Thats why Jared had given her his clothes.

It was getting near dark and they were only about half way to their destination. Around the corner of the main street is where they saw the herd. Most of the uglies would have seen them anyway, but the girl got scared and screamed. There was no choice now except to run.

"The big K-mart," Derek yelled," half a mile back. We can hide in there." The men followed him, Jared grabbing ahold of the girl's arm and pulling her along. They got inside, through a back employee door, but the herd was right behind them. Derek and Jon pushed some heavy boxes against the door. Then Derek turned to the girl and slapped her so hard he knocked her to the ground. Then he kicked her in the stomach. "You stupid fucking bitch." What the hell was she thinking, screaming like that.

They quickly combed over the rest of the store, making sure it wasn't full of walkers, and checking for another exit. Every door they could find was already swarmed by walkers. They were stuck in here. And worse than that, there wasn't any food in the damn place, or water either. This store had been cleared several months before by the very people they were searching for, though the wolves had no way of knowing that.

"We are going to sit tight for the night," Derek said, "if they don't clear out by morning, we will decide what to do then." They moved to spread out and find some things that would make sleeping more comfortable. Dani started getting a meal together. Before he could move out, Derek stopped Jared. "You want to keep her," Derek said, "better teach her how to fucking behave." Jared nodded. He wouldn't have said anything, but he was sure Derek was going to kill the girl after what she did earlier. Now it seemed he had permission to keep her. Something had gotten into Derek, he had been acting weird since he found those pictures. Sleeping alone, which he never did, and now giving Jared permission to keep a woman he wanted. It made Jared's skin crawl. Derek was even scarier when he was being nice than when he was killing people.

Jared got what he wanted from the camping section. Most of it was pretty cleaned out, but he found a pad and a fresh sleeping bag. Then he took the girl over to where the women's clothes were. He gave her a little shove in the right direction but she just stood there looking at him.

"Them clothes are mine," he said, pointing to the ones the girl had on, "I want them back." She stared at him with the same blank look. "Get 'urself some clothes that fit, you stupid girl," he added, giving her a shove and a kick in the ass to get her started. The girl took a few steps, then stopped and stood staring at the racks of clothes like she didn't know what to do. Finally she walked over and grabbed some underwear and a bra. Then she took a pair of jeans a tank top and a shirt. Turning back to Jared, she stood holding the items, waiting to see what he wanted her to do. "Well get dressed," he told her. Watching as she undressed, he thought about how she was his now. He wondered how she would feel about that, then decided he didn't care.

"Derek said I could keep ya," he told her. The girl looked at him questioningly. "Can't be screaming like that when you see the uglies," he told her. The girl nodded. All the time she had been with them, Jared had not heard her say one word. Now she bit her lip and looked at him.

"I was scared," she said. Jared nodded. He had been scared too, but you couldn't just go screaming your head off. Jared took his clothes back from the girl and shoved them into his bag. Then he took the girl by the arm and headed over to get something to eat before it was gone.

The next morning, their situation had not improved. In fact, it had gotten worse. Now the food and water was gone, and more uglies were outside, huge crowds of them at every door and window they could see out of. Sometimes, herds like this would move on. But when they started crowding in like they knew there was food inside, they usually wouldn't go anywhere until they got fed. Checking all the doors, Derek picked the one that looked like it might be their best bet for getting away.

"Get your knives and guns out," he said, "we are going to have to fight our way out." Most of the men started gearing up, getting their knives and small hatchets, whatever they used for close combat fighting. Jared took his extra knife out of his bag and handed it to the girl. She stared at it for a minute and then took it, gripping the handle so thight that her knuckles turned white.

"Stay close to me," Jared told her. The girl was trying to decide whether to stab him now, or look for a chance to run once they got outside. But then another idea started brewing in the back of her head. It was one she didn't like, it was such a bad idea that it made her sick to think about it. She was thinking about staying. This man was disgusting, and he had forced himself on her again the night before. But when another one of the men had tried grabbing at her, he had knocked him on his ass. And he did seem willing to protect her from the dead. What would she do on her own, she couldn't go back to her family these men had killed them all. And if she did get away, there was a good chance she might be picked up by another group just as bad as this one. Or not be picked up, and be stuck alone out there with no gun and no food and no water.

Everyone was ready to go. But one man did not look impressed with Derek's plan. His name was also Jon, but since they already had a Jon, everyone called him by his last name, which was Farmer. He was leaning against the glass, trying to look outside and see how many uglies were out there. He had gone along with Derek until now, but this was a terrible plan. They were never going to be able to get through a herd this big and come out alive. Derek was pulling the straps of his backpack tight. He nodded to the men, who nodded back at him.

"We are never going to make it," Farmer whined loudly. "There are too many of them out there," he insisted, "we should stay here and wait for them to clear out some more. Derek watched the man. Not only was he contradicting Derek's orders, he was acting like a total coward. Even the new girl was gripping a knife, ready to follow them out the door. Derek looked at Jared, nodding his head slightly towards the man, who was now on the brink of total panic. Jared nodded back. He knew what Derek wanted.

Morgan took another sip of his water and looked over the side of the building again. When they had gone to sleep, there had been maybe three of four walkers down in the parking lot. Now the entire building was swarmed. Where did they all come from? He and Daryl had been quiet, so he knew they had not attracted this many boogies. They had not even made a fire last night. Daryl woke up and noticed Morgan was looking over the side of the building. The man looked concerned. Daryl scratched at his head and took a look over the side.

"Sonofabitch," he remarked, "where the fuck did they all come from? They had enough travelling food and water for a few days, so they were not in immediate danger, but both of them really wanted to go home. Morgan was missing Jessica and didn't want her to worry, or worse yet, come looking for him. And Daryl wanted to get back. He had some time to think about what RickyJo told him before he left. The pregnancy thing had blown his mind a little at first. But now he was warming up to the idea. He wondered if his brother knew yet, and how much he knew. Knowing RickyJo, he probably knew everything already. Keeping secrets from Merle was never her strong suit.

"Lets check around the other side," Morgan suggested, "Or maybe we can throw something off that side, draw some of them away from the ladder?" Daryl nodded and they headed over to the front of the building. Morgan tipped his head to the side, like he was listening. "Hear that?," he asked, "sounds like someone screaming." Daryl leaned over and listened closely. He didn't have to wait long. The doors flung outward and a screaming man was hurled into the herd. Then the doors shut behind him. The man had no chance at all. He was being bitten and ripped at by a herd so large there was a chance he might be crushed to death instead of being ripped apart. Daryl and Morgan exchanged glances. Well at least they knew why the herd was here, there were people inside on the ground floor of the building.

A few minutes later, there were gunshots coming from the other side of the building. Daryl and Morgan rushed to look and saw a small group fighting their way through the walkers that were still milling around on that side. It looked like two women and five men. Morgan recognized two of them as the men that had tried to attack him and Jessica in the woods two days before.

"I hate to say it," Daryl said, "but maybe we should use this chance to get away ourselves." Morgan nodded. The men were heading from the side of the store, the bike was parked out back. And since the dead were feeding, it would be much easier to get away. They headed for the ladder, Morgan going first, and taking the dead that remained down with his walkind stick. Then they ran for the bike and climbed on. Daryl fired it up and they headed for home. He would have rather not driven by the other group of men, but that was the clearest way out. A few of them stopped and stared as the two men whipped by on the bike, but Derek smiled. They didn't need to go downtown and climb a bulinging now, he thought as he watched the men disappear down the road. He knew exactly which way he wanted to go.


	24. Chapter 24

**** I know I got a review asking for more of Rick with Beth, so here you go. This story is rated M for a reason. As always enjoy and review. ****

Alexandria

Beth went to hide her gun in the back of her pants, under her shirt, and then remembered that she didn't really have to do that anymore, so she put the gun into the leather holster she had and clipped it onto her belt. Rick gave her a look of approval. RickyJo and her cousin had been carrying their guns openly since what happened the other night and Deanna had not made a stink yet, so he figured it was carte blanche now on the having and carrying of guns. And watching RickyJo nurse two babies with a giant hand cannon strapped to her thigh was as funny as it had always been. Deanna's sons had been over the day before, and had seen her doing it on her new front porch. The looks on their faces had said it all. It was a fairly equal mix of fear, arousal and the naughty feeling you got when you checked out a woman's tits while a baby was latched on to them. Her cousin had smiled and given them a little wave, then both women had started giggling like crazy. Spencer had been over there looking for Jessica's daughter, the pretty one. He had asked if she wanted to come eat lunch with them. She had gone, taking her younger sister along with her at her mother's insistence.

Beth turned and smiled at Rick. He wasn't sure why, but she seemed so much happier the last day or so. When she talked about her pregnancy now, it was with a lot more excitement and a lot less fear. She came towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips. He took her by the chin, kissing each one of the scars on her face before putting his mouth back on hers. She kissed him back, parting his lips with her tounge and pushing him back so he was sitting on the bed.

"Thought you wanted to walk the wall with me?," he asked, her smile making him smile. If he knew she wanted to stay in bed with him, he wouldn't have bothered getting all dressed in his uniform. She didn't answer, but instead pulled her shirt up over her head and threw it in his face. He reached for her, but she danced back, leaving him with a handful of nothing but air. She laughed, stepping sideways and thinking about making a run for it. The room wasn't that big, but she could dart behind the playpen and then run around the other side of the bed. But he was up before she even had a chance, grabbing her around the waist and pushing her up against the wall. Pulling the holster off her waist and tossing it on the dresser, he kicked her legs apart.

"Hands on the wall," he told her. She put them up, biting her lip to keep from giggling. Laughing now would ruin the game they were playing. He started at her ankles, playing like he was patting her down but really just feeling her up. If this was really the kind of pat down that criminals got, she would have started breaking the law a long time ago. He ran his hands over her hips and up the curve of her waist. By the time he got to her breasts, she was already panting.

"Be gentle with them," she reminded him, "they're still tender." He kissed her neck, and moved his hands to her back to unhook her bra. She took her hands off the wall and let it fall to the floor, then put them back. Rick leaned in close to her, pressing his body against hers and kissing up her neck. She could feel the rough scratch of his stubble against her skin. He put his hands over hers, then rubbed up her arms, starting at her wrists and ending at her shoulders. He moved his hands down, rubbing her stomach and then up, touching her breasts lightly, being careful not to get too excited and start squeezing. They were already bigger and her nipples were a darker shade of pink. When he brushed his knuckles across the hard little tips of them, thats when she started moaning. There was a soft knock on their bedroom door.

"Go away," Beth yelled at whoever was out there. There was some soft laughter on the other side of the door, that sounded like it was probably Michonne, and then the sound of footsteps going back down the hall and away from them. At the sound of the knock, Rick had stepped back from Beth a little, and she used that chance to unzip her pants and push them down, kicking them off along with her underwear and then resuming her position with her feet apart and her hands on the wall. She arched her back just a little, pushing her ass out so he could almost see a hint of her cleft down between her round cheeks. Didn't know this was a strip search, he thought to himself with a little smirk. She could hear the rustle of Rick removing his clothes, and then he was pressed against her again, his skin warm where it touched hers. He put his hands back on her breasts, touching then lightly, and gently pinching at her nipples. Then he moved his hands down, rubbing her hips and squeezing her ass, thankful that part of her wasn't as tender as her breasts. Then he moved his hand around the front of her, feeling the silky hair above her opening. Using the fingers of one hand to spread her open, he dipped inside with the tip of his finger on the other hand and started to flick his finger across her most sensitive spot. Every time she started to moan and move her hips, he stopped.

She could feel the need building up inside her until it was so strong it was almost painful. Her legs were shaking and the insides of her were throbbing. She spun in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, lifting herself up so she could wrap her legs around him as well. He hand went between them, guiding himself inside, pushing in harder and faster than he meant to do. She felt the wall on her back and then he was gripping her ass, slamming into her over and over. It was on about the third thrust that she felt herself explode around him. Someone was yelling out some of the most obscene words she had ever heard and she realized it was her and bit down on her lip, digging her nails into Rick's back. He meant to take his time with her, but the next thing he knew he was groaning into her hair, spilling himself inside her tight little well. He pushed in once more, finishing off and then started laughing, bracing them against the wall so he wouldn't drop her on the floor.

"Those were some of the dirtiest words I have ever heard," he told her. And they sounded worse coming from Beth, who never swore. No she was laughing into his chest. Beth had no idea why she had been cursing, it had just come out of her.

"Going to have to start watching my mouth before the baby comes," she said, laughing into his neck. She felt Rick tense up a little, then he backed up and set her down carefully on the floor. He had forgotten about the baby. Maybe he shouldn't have been so rough with her.

"Are you okay?," he asked her, "I didn't hurt you did I?" She hugged him tightly.

"I am fine," she assured him, "I am not going to break." He nodded, but she could tell by the look on his face that what just happened was probably going to be the last hard fuck she got for a while. Beth was so small, he really shouldn't be going at her like that anyway. If he had hurt her or the baby, he would never be able to forgive himself. She thought about telling him again that she was fine, but she could tell it wouldn't do any good. "Lets get dressed and go walk the wall," she suggested.

"Yeah," he agreed, "I think Michonne is waiting for us downstairs."

Jessica heard the sound of the motorcycle before she saw them and she was out on the steps waiting for Morgan when he pulled up. She got a few seconds of holding him to herself before they got mobbed by Duane and Desiree. Cassie would have ran in too, forgetting that she was too old and mature for that sort of behavior, but she was off riding RickyJo's horse. Cassie had always loved horses, and the horse had seemed quite taken with her. Since RickyJo really had too much on her plate already, she had been more than happy to turn the horse over to her niece for training and care. They wanted to train it to pull some kind of plow, to help them with the gardening. Eugene and Reg were working on designing and building the plow in question, but after that it was going to be up to the girls to train the horse to wear the thing. There had also been some talk about teaching the horse to pull a small wagon, so they could go out for supply runs without using up all their gasoline.

Daryl watched Morgan with Jessica and the kids, feeling happy for the man, but a little jealous as well. He wouldn't mind getting that kind of reception when he came back after only being gone a day. No one had even bothered to acknowledge that he was standing there. And he had been looking after Desiree since she had been born. He sighed and turned away, heading for the other house.

"Where are you going?," RickyJo called to him from the porch. She had been putting her son down for a nap, or she would have come out sooner. "We stay over here with Jessica now," she informed him.

"Got to get my shit at least," Daryl told her.

"We already moved it over here for you," she said. Seeing that he looked a little surprised, she added, "I hope that's okay." Daryl stepped back off the porch of their old house and walked over. He was happy they had thought to move him over when they moved their own stuff, and he was also wondering if his brother knew what the girls had done. RickyJo met him on the steps of his new house, taking his hand and practically dragging him inside and up the steps. She took him down to the end of the hall, and pointed into the room on the right.

"This one has the best view of the trees," she told him, "Cassie picked it out for you." Really she had picked it, but she felt embarassed to tell him. Daryl looked around the room. He had to admit, the girls knew him well. And it did have a nice view of the woods out behind the wall. His things were folded neatly on the bed, which was made up with fresh sheets and blankets. And on the little side table next to the bed there was a little wooden statue of a squirrel holding a nut. "We put your extra arrows in the closet," she said. Daryl suddenly felt a little overcome with his emotions. This was the nicest thing anyone had done for him in a long time. He turned and caught RickyJo by the wrist, pulling her close and hugging her to his chest. His hand went between them, rubbing her stomach.

"How's the baby," he asked her.

"Fine as far as I know," she said, smiling softly at him. He looked back at her, but then she saw his face tighten up in anger and pain.

"Does Merle know?," he asked. She swallowed the hard lump in her throat and walked over to shut the door to the bedroom. Then she turned back to Daryl.

"He knows about the baby," she started, "and he knows we slept together... But he doesn't know that you know." She paused a minute and decided to tell him the rest. "He says the baby is his and thats what he wanted me to tell you." RickyJo sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands. She had really made a mess out of things this time. And it seemed like no matter what she did, things just seemed to keep getting worse. She felt Daryl take the seat next to her and his arm went around her back. It almost made her feel worse. After what she had done to him, she didn't deserve his comfort.

"What do you say?," Daryl asked her.

"I don't know," she said, wiping at her eyes. "I don't know who the father is. I really fucked things up this time." Daryl pulled her close and let her cry into his shoulder. There was always something terrible about seeing her cry. He could stand anyone's tears but hers. "I am so sorry," she told him. She thought about the advice Jessica had given her. _If you don't want to choose, don't choose. You are the valued commodity, you make the rules. If either of them don't like it, they can take a hike._ The advice had sounded good at the time, but she wasn't really sure how it would actually work out, or if she wanted it to be like that. Daryl was doing some thinking himself, and he was thinking that sitting here, letting RickyJo cry and stress herself out over the feelings of two grown men wasn't going to solve anything. There was only one way this problem was going to get solved.

"I don't want you worrying about this anymore," he told her firmly. "I think it's time for me and my brother to have a talk." She popped her head up, her eyes wide with fear. "He does know doesn't he?," Daryl asked. She nodded.

"I already told him," she said.

"Then what?," Daryl asked, "he say he was going to beat my ass?" She nodded again. If Daryl was going to do this, then he better know what he was getting into.

"He said if he caught us together again," she said, "he was going to make what he did to Glen look like a light slap." Daryl stopped a minute and then started laughing. Merle was really playing dirty, telling her stuff like that to try and make her scared to be around him. He was smart and he knew RickyJo well, Daryl had to give it to him. If she thought it might get Daryl hurt, there was no way she was going to be messing around with him.

"I ain't scared of Merle," Daryl told her. She didn't look convinced. And if Daryl didn't have the sense to be afraid, she was still frightened for him. While he never turned it on her, Merle had a mean streak that was a mile wide. And she knew how he was about her and their son. They were the only good things he had ever had in his life and no one was going to take that away from him.

Jessica and RickyJo were cooking dinner in the kitchen when Merle got back from working construction with Abraham. Abe had made a quick visit to say hello to MJ, his junior ginger, and had gotten in trouble with RickyJo for giving him candy. Not only were they about to have dinner, but that stuff was going to rot his little teeth out. Jessica noticed her cousin seemed unusually jumpy. She kept dropping things and jumping when she heard anyone came into the house. They heard the shower running and then a few minutes later, Daryl and Merle walked throught the kitchen, heading for the back door. RickyJo was leaning over the kitchen sink, trying to look out the small window above it.

"What the hell is going on?," Jessica asked her. RickyJo's face looked like all the blood had drained out of it.

"Daryl said he was going to talk to Merle," she told her, nervously wringing her hands. Now Jessica was shoving at her, trying to look out the window herself.

"What's he going to say?," she asked.

"I don't know," RickyJo said. She felt like she was going to vomit and headed for the kitchen trash, emptying the contents of her stomach into the can. Jessica took hold of her and dragged her over to the kitchen table, sitting her down in a chair. She got her a glass of water from the fridge, making sure RickyJo had a good grip on it before she let go.

"If you don't want to choose," Jessica told her, "Don't let them bully you into choosing." RickyJo nodded and sipped the water, trying to get her stomach under control. Then the back door flung open and Carol was standing there.

"You know Daryl and Merle are beating the shit out of each other in your backyard," she announced. Morgan had been standing in the kitchen doorway. He headed quickly out the backdoor and down the porch steps. The girls followed behind him. The fight looked more like a wrestling match and less like an assbeating, so Morgan stopped on the steps. He saw some people were out on the back porch of the other house, staring down at them and also wondering if they should step in and try to break it up.

"You want me to get the hose?," Carol asked. Jessica started laughing. As far as she was concerned they ought to let them fight. They obviously weren't really going to hurt each other and it was good entertainment. Not only were they rolling around, covered in dirt and horse shit, they were cussing and yelling at each other too. She's my fucking wife. She was my girlfriend first. Fuck you. Fuck you. Thats my baby. No its not you fucking retard. You took her to live with cannibals. That was 'ur fault. No it wasn't you asshole it was 'urs.

RickyJo stood on the porch, staring down at them. Then she took off down the steps, bumping in to Morgan and throwing him off balance, almost sending him over the rail. She just could not believe the two of them, out here making a scene and acting like a couple of children. She leaned in and started smacking at them.

"Stop it right now, both of you!," she yelled at them. Now more people were crowding out onto the back porch of the other house and most of them were laughing. Merle was on top of his brother so she smacked at him and tried to grab his arm. "Let go of him," she yelled. Merle looked at her like she was crazy. He almost had Daryl in a headlock, why would he let go. "Stop fighting right now," she screamed, "I fucking mean it." With his brother momentarily distracted, Daryl used the opportunity to elbow him hard in the ribs and flop him onto his back. RickyJo was splashed across her legs with what looked and smelled like creamy wet horse crap. "You are both rolling in shit," she yelled at them. Then she tried grabbing Daryl and pulling him off. Rick walked over with the intention of helping her to break up the fight, but he was laughing so hard he had to stop and grip the rails on the porch to try and get ahold of himself.

RickyJo had ahold of Daryl by the shirt now, and she was cursing at him, trying to drag him off. The two of them were locked into each other, grabbing at each other's clothes and hair. Merle had mud/crap in his eyes and he was swinging wildly with that stupid thing he wore on his arm, hanging on to Daryl by the shirt. RickyJo was pulling Daryl back, screaming at him to let go when his shirt gave out and ripped into pieces. RickyJo flung backwards, still clinging to pieces of the shirt, and she landed hard on her ass in a big pile of compost and horse manure. Daryl had flung forward and both men had smashed their heads together. Daryl was sitting in the dirt, holding his forehead and Merle had his shirt up, trying to wipe his eyes out and stop his lip from bleeding.

Daryl turned to look at RickyJo. She was covered in filth, sitting in a pile of shit, and she was not looking too pleased about it either. Merle finished wiping out his eyes and followed his brother's gaze. Even if he had wanted to try, he had never been able to sensor his opinions. And many times in his life it had gotten him into trouble. A big grin lit up his face and he pointed at her.

"And thats what you get for acting like a little tramp," he informed her. Daryl started laughing before he could stop himself. It wasn't really the comment that he thought was funny; it was more that his brother liked RickyJo so much he was willing to fight him for touching her, but then he turned right around and started insulting her.

"Shut your fucking mouth Merle," Jessica yelled from the porch. Merle grabbed some of the muddy shit from near where he was sitting and flung it at her, sending her shrieking into the house for cover. Rick had unfortunately been standing on the ground in front of the porch and had recieved the worst of it. He could hear Beth's laughter ringing out from the porch next door. Daryl was up and had RickyJo by the arm, trying to help her out of the compost pile, but he lost his footing on the slippery mud and they both fell down in a tangle. The smell was suddenly so strong around her that she couldn't take it. She tried to turn her head but Daryl still got covered in a fair amount of vomit.

"I feel like I am going to faint," she said in a shaky voice that didn't sound like hers. Without warning, Merle was not finding the situation to be so funny anymore. No matted what she had been doing with Daryl, he didn't want his pregnant wife passing out in a pile of creamy wet horse shit. Finding his footing, he got to his feet, and saw that Daryl was doing to same. Between them, they got her on her feet and then Merle scooped her up and carried her into the house.

"Go down and use the basement shower," Jessica ordered, holding the basement door open and pointing. There was no way they were tracking all that nasty crap through the house on the carpets. Merle headed for the downstairs steps, taking them slowly to keep from falling. He was about halfway down when RickyJo threw up all over him.

"Go get Rosita!," he yelled at Jessica.

"She already went," Daryl told him from behind him on the steps. When they got to the bottom, Daryl grabbed a cheap plastic lawn chair that was in a stack against the wall and set it in the shower. Merle set RickyJo down in it as carefully as he could and turned the water on. Then he and Daryl started arguing again. Turn the water warmer. No its better cold. Don't spray her face. There's shit on her face. Stop it. Fuck you.

"Stop fighting," RickyJo moaned at them from the chair. She put her hands to her head, which was pounding. The smell of shit and vomit was overwhelming and it smelled worse than anything she had ever sniffed in her life. The last time she had been pregnant, things had smelled stronger to her, but it had never been this bad. She stood up, pushing the chair away from her and started stipping off her dirty clothes, running her face under the water to try and get rid of the smell. She pointed at the men. "Get all those shitty clothes off and put them in the washer, and take mine and put them in there too." They stood there staring at her for a minute. "I'm not kidding the smell is making me really sick." That was enough to make them start moving. Daryl grabbed her clothes up from the floor where she left them and threw them in the washer, then since his shirt was already in tatters outside, he took his pants off and put threw them in. Then he took everyone's boots and put them in the utility sink to rinse them off. Merle threw his arm piece in there too, the fucking thing was crusted in shit and mud. With only one good hand and his shirt still whole, it took him a little longer to get undressed. By the time he got done, Daryl was already under the shower water with RickyJo, who had one arm covering her breasts and the other hand she was scrubbing at Daryl's hair with a bar of soap, looking ready to puke again.

Jessica found Rosita over in the house that served as the nurses station. Rosita grabbed her med bag and the two of them headed back to Jessica's house. Since RickyJo was pregnant, vomiting and fainting were not huge concerns, but she wanted to have a look at her anyway. Jessica pointed her down into the basement and she took off down the stairs, expecting to find a sick woman. Instead she found three naked people in the shower with the door open. She knew RickyJo had a lot of tattoos, but knowing was not the same as seeing. There were a few in some intimate places that she had not known were there. When she had short shorts on, you could see the ones under her butt, but the little stars on her hips had been covered even by her bathing suit bottoms.

"What the hell are ya looking at?," Daryl asked her.

"I thought you needed help," Rosita answered, holding up her medical kit.

"We do," Merle informed her, "theres no towels down here, go upstairs and get us some."

"Are you fucking kidding me?," Rosita asked him. RickyJo smacked him hard in the shoulder.

"I fainted," she told Rosita, "some horse shit got on me and the smell made me sick. I think I'm alright now." She gave Rosita a hopeful smile.

"I will get you some towels," Rosita agreed, "but only if you let me check you over and make sure that's the reason you fainted." She had been hurt a few times before, so Rosita knew RickyJo was one of her worst patients. I'll be fine was pretty much her mantra whenever she was hurt or sick, and she hated being poked and prodded at. RickyJo sighed. She figured she was going to be bullied into getting examined anyway, so she might as well not have to walk upstairs naked to get the towels. She normally wouldn't care, but Jessica's boyfriend Morgan was up there and she didn't want to weird him out.

"Fine," she said.

A little while later, they were up in RickyJo and Merle's bedroom. RickyJo was nursing MJ and letting Rosita check her over and Merle was hovering close by, making sure she was cooperating. Her blood pressure and heart rate were fine, and she seemed otherwise healthy. She was looking a little thin and dark around the eyes, though, and Rosita worried she might not be getting enough iron or sleep or maybe both.

"Do you have any prenatal vitamins?," Rosita asked her. She nodded and pointed to the dresser.

"Daryl brought them back from the pharmacy run," she said.

"Okay," Rosita said. "Make sure you are taking those, and if you are going to keep nursing while you are pregnant, I want you to up your calories. Small snacks between meals. Red meat if we have it and lots of leafy greens."

"You think my iron is low?," RickyJo asked her.

"I think your iron and your sugar is low," Rosita told her. Then she turned and gave Merle a pointed glance. "And I think you have been under too much stress. Stress is bad for the baby." Merle was still mad at his brother, but the sight of all those vitamin bottles on the dresser was making him question his resolve.

"I will try to take it easy," RickyJo said, hoping that would end her examination. Right now, she just wanted to have some dinner and lay down with her son and go to sleep. Rosita nodded and packed her things back up, giving MJ a smile before she headed home. RickyJo scooted down to lay on the bed and cuddle her son close to her. She saw something on the nightstand she hadn't noticed before. A beautiful bunch of wildflowers was in a mason jar with a little water in the bottom to keep them fresh. She turned and took Merle's hand, pulling him close to her.

"Thank you for the flowers," she told him, "they smell so good." Merle looked at the flowers, a strange expression on his face.

"They are not from me," he said.

"Oh," she said, sounding disappointed, "Maybe Daryl left them." Daryl leaned in from the doorway. He had been lurking outside so he could hear what Rosita said about the baby.

"It wasn't me either," he admmitted. Merle was still staring, he swore those flowers had not been there when he got back from the construction site, but he wasn't totally sure. RickyJo looked back and forth between the two men. A strange chill ran up her back at the thought of someone else in her room, touching her things. The clothes in one of her drawers had been disturbed, but she thought Merle had just been in there looking for something. Now she wasn't so sure.

"Who was it then?," she asked.


	25. Chapter 25

**** This chapter contains some sexual violence. ****

The Wolves

After they got out of the K-mart, it had only taken them until about the middle of the day to find the town they were looking for. They set up camp far enough away that they wouldn't be seen or heard by the people inside the walls. Then Derek left them there and headed in to try and see if he could get a look at the woman from the picture. The walls were easy to climb, and no one was guarding anything except the front gate. It was easy to get inside, and then sneak from house to house, looking in the windows. He had to check about ten houses before he found her. She was walking down the road with another woman, holding the baby he had seen in the picture.

To see her in a black and white photo was one thing, but to really see her, she took his breath away. She was wearing cowboy boots and cut-off denim shorts. In the picture he had only been able to see the tattoos on her arms, but now he could see they ran up the side of one of her legs too. There was a floral design leading up into a huge lizard on one of her thighs. It wasn't a wolf, but it was still pretty bad ass. Her long hair was up in a ponytail that swung when she walked. She was walking with a shorter blonde woman, talking and laughing with her. He noticed the other woman had scars on her face as well. She wasn't as pretty as the woman Derek had come to see, but she would do just fine as a mate for one of his pack members. Jared seemed content with the girl Derek had given him, but that still left Jon alone.

The shorter woman walked up the porch of one of the houses and went inside, but his woman waved at her and continued on to the next house. Derek looked around to be sure he wouldn't be seen and then crossed the street and hid in the bushes near the back porch. To his delight, the woman came out onto the porch and started feeding her baby. She was singing the baby a soft little song, rocking him and stroking his hair. Derek thought about what it would feel like to have her touch his hair, maybe when he was on top of her, his mouth on hers. He watched her, touching himself through his pants until her baby got done eating and she got up and headed back inside. Then he waited a few minutes and headed in the door after her.

He snuck through the house, hiding behind walls and in closets, watching the woman. She handed the baby off to another woman with bright red hair that fed him some applesauce. He watched them for a few minutes and then followed the other woman upstairs and watched her change the sheets on her bed. She was humming to herself, but it was a tune he didn't recognize. When she left the room to take her dirty laundry downstairs, he got so close to her that he could smell her. She was gone, so he slipped into her room and dug through her drawers, taking what he wanted, which was a soft pair of well worn underpants. Derek slipped them into his pocket. He also noticed some of the drawers contained men's clothing, which angered him. When he found out which man was sharing her bed, he would make sure that man died slow.

Derek would have been happy to watch the woman all day, but he had other things he needed to do. These people clearly had guns, and it looked like they had a lot of them. If they wanted to take this town, they were going to need to steal some. Earlier he had seen some people going in and out of a building near the front gate. He guessed that's where the guns were stashed. Sneaking quietly, he went down behind the little row of houses and peeked inside the building. There were a ton of guns inside, and better yet, the only person guarding them was a heavy set woman that he could easily overpower. These people were even stupider than the last big group he had taken.

Derek checked the area around the front of the builiding and then slipped inside. He liked that no one here locked their doors. The woman had her back to him. He got his knife out and creeped up behind her. She gasped when she felt his hands on her, then she felt the knife against her throat.

"Make one noise and I will slash your throat like the pig you are," he hissed at her. Derek grabbed her arm and spun her around so he could look at her face. He smiled at her, she was nice and scared, just the way he liked his prey.

"Take whatever you want," the woman told him, putting her shaking hands in the air. He turned her back around and slammed her face down hard on the top of the table until he saw blood.

"I will," he told her. Then he yanked her dress up and cut her underpants off with his knife. He slammed into her, making her squeal like a little pig. It didn't take him long, he was already geared up from spying on the woman with the tattoos, who he knew from listening her talk to the woman with the red hair was named RickyJo. He mumbled her name when he came inside the woman he was taking. When he was done, he turned the woman over. He had broken her nose when he was slamming her face into the table and her face was covered in blood and snot and tears. She was crying and begging him to stop. He slapped her face. Then he took her by the hair and held her down on the table. While she cried and begged some more, he carved the W into her forehead. Then he pulled her up and looked for someplace to stash her. There was a small broom closet full of cleaning supplies. He shoved her inside and then reached in after her, pulling her head back and slitting her throat. Couldn't have this little pig squealing on him, now could he?

He grabbed a towel and cleaned up the blood on the table from her broken nose. With luck, no one would find her for a while. Then he took a gun bag and filled it quickly with the things he wanted. Derek climbed the wall behind the building and tossed the bag over. He was planning to climb over after it, but something by the edge of the supply building caught his eye. The fat woman must have been growing a little flower garden. Derek didn't know much about getting women to like him. He had always taken the ones he wanted by force. But more than anything, he wanted the woman with the tattoos to like him. And while he had never given flowers to anyone before, he knew that girls liked getting them. He ran over and picked the best looking ones he could find. When he got done he was impressed with his small bouquet. Sneaking down the street he made his way back to her house. There was a lot of commotion coming from outside, and everyone was out on the back porches, so it was easy to get inside. He even went into the kitchen and took a mason jar from the drying rack next to the sink and put a little water in it. Then he tiptoed up the stairs and placed the flowers next to her bed.

Since people were outside being so loud, Derek didn't really even have to sneak. He walked back down the stairs and out the front door, heading a few houses down before he went into the backyard and over the wall. Then he headed towards the front gate to pick up his gun bag. When he got close, he slowed down his pace and stepped quietly through the grass. A black woman was kneeling next to the bag, looking through it. She had short hair that was braided back away from her face. By the time she knew he was next to her, he was punching her in the face. She dropped like a sack of potatoes. Derek leaned down and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder. Then he picked up the gun bag with the other hand and headed back to his camp, whistling the tune he had heard RickyJo singing to her baby.


	26. Chapter 26

Alexandria

Jessica wasn't sure if the fighting between Merle and Daryl and RickyJo was over, but they had all left to go hunting together, so she figured that was a start. Sasha had taken the might watch in the tower the night before and had not come back for breakfast, so they told Bob they would check around for her while they were out. Disappearing was not exactly strange behavior for her since she lost her brother, so no one was ready to raise the alarm yet. If she wasn't back by lunch, Rick promised Bob they would get some people together and go out looking for her.

All this worked out well for Jessica, since it meant she got to watch her nephew, who had to be the most adorable baby she had ever seen. It had taken a little bribery on her part, but he now came right to her, instead of clinging to his mother with his thumb in his mouth. Beth had come over from next door with the little girl she took care of and they were planning to take the kids outside and let them go swimming in the baby pool. Desiree and Duane had left with Carl and Sammie to go across the street and play video games with Jessie's sons. The boys seemed to be recovering well after the loss of their father, and Jessica wondered how much they had been told about what happened to him. In case their mother had made up some other story, she had warned the kids not to bring up what happened by the bonfire.

RickyJo looked around the tower, but so many people came and went through this area, it was impossible to tell which footprints were Sasha's and when they were left there. She had warned the woman several times not to leave the walls by herself and if she was going to, she needed to at least tell someone where she was going and when she planned to be back. Or at least take a flare with her in case something happened. Sasha had refused to do any of this, so if she was stuck up a tree hiding from walkers, RickyJo figured it was her own fault. And she wasn't going to waste her whole morning looking for the woman either, she wanted to go hunting.

Merle looked at RickyJo, rolling his eyes at her back. She was supposed to be back at the house taking it easy, not out here, hunting boar. But of course she would hear none of that and if he didn't let her come along with him, she would have just found someone else to go with her. At least this way he could keep an eye on her. Daryl was not as concerned. They had been on the road and hunted together through her entire pregnancy with MJ. He knew she was fine. And he had seen her shoving some snacks into her pack, so she was doing part of what Rosita had told her, instead of ignoring the woman completely.

Daryl found a game trail and they followed it into the woods. On the way, RickyJo had bagged a couple of rabbits and tied them to her belt. Daryl didn't try for them, he was only interested in getting the animal he was tracking. And it wasn't long before they came upon a group of sleeping boars. Staying back, Merle motioned for RickyJo and Daryl to circle around in back of the animals. He could shoot them at any time with his rifle, but he wanted to let RickyJo and Daryl get in close enough to use their bows. One pig would be nice, but three fat pigs would hold them for a long time. They could have a pig roast with one of them and keep the other two for themselves. And Jessica knew how to brine and smoke the bellies to make bacon.

RickyJo walked carefully around the pigs, making sure not to step on any crunchy leaves or sitcks. She found a good position and strung and arrow in her bow, waiting for Daryl to get ready. Suddenly she felt herself being grabbed from behind. Her bow was yanked away from her and a hand was over her mouth. Her gun was pulled out of the holster on her leg before she could grab for it. Then a rag was wrapped around her eyes, blindfolding her. She felt a gun in her back.

"Don't make a noise," a voice warned her. Then she was taken by the hand and dragged through the woods. It was hard to get her bearings with the blindfold on, but she felt like they were walking a long way. Several times she tripped on something and was caught and set back on her feet. After the second time, they slowed down and whoever was holding her captive took her by the hand and walked her behind him to make sure she wouldn't fall again. Finally they stopped. Her backpack and rabbits were taken from her and she was pushed down into a sitting position on the ground. Then the blindfold was pulled off.

She blinked a few times, letting her eyes readjust to the light. There were three men and two women sitting around a small camping area. One man was sitting in front of her, crosslegged, looking at her expectantly. He was darkly tanned and his hair was long and straight and very dark. It was pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his neck. While he didn't have any marks on his face, she saw that most of the other members of this group had something carved into their foreheads. They looked like the letter W. _And today all of our psycho kidnappings will be brought to you by the letter W._ Don't start laughing, she warned herself. Laughing at these people, who clearly were taking themselves very seriously would not be a good thing. The man with the long hair leaned forward and took her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of her palm. It creeped her out a little, but she guessed at least she wasn't being gang raped. Not yet anyway.

"Hello RickyJo," the man said to her, "My name is Derek." She couldn't hide the surprised expression on her face and it made him smile. How in the hell did this random weirdo know her name. Then it came to her. The drawers in her bedroom and her things that had been moved around. This guy had been watching her. Maybe for a long time.

"You are the one that left me the flowers?," she asked. This seemed to make the man very happy and he nodded his head and smiled. She knew Daryl and Merle would notice her absence soon. They could follow her trail back here, so she just needed to stall for time. "Thank you," she said to the man, "they were very nice."

"Thank you Derek," he corrected her.

"Thank you _Derek_ ," she repeated. "Theres a bottle of water in my bag," she said, "do you think I could have it?" The man got up and grabbed her bag roughly way from a woman with dark hair the same color as his. Like him, this woman did not have a marking on her face. He handed it to RickyJo. She forced herself to smile at him and then dug through the bag to find her water. She twisted off the cap and took a long drink, trying to steady herself.

Seeing that Derek was not going to do anything worth watching to this woman right now, Jared got up and started getting back to what he was doing before Derek showed up with her. And that had been making lunch. Now they had the rabbits, so he thrust them at his woman and told her to cook them up. RickyJo watched the exchange out of the corner of her eye, but kept her focus on the man in front of her. He wasn't saying anything, just staring at her.

"Why did you bring me here?," she asked him. She figured there was no point in being indirect. They both knew he had snatched her up and forced her to come back to his camp with him. Her ponytail was long and it was falling forward over her shoulder. Derek leaned in close to her and picked up a long strand of it, pressing it to his face and smelling it. She smelled like vanilla and oranges.

"I brought you here to fall in love," he told her, "I need a woman to run my pack with me." RickyJo struggled to keep her face neutral and choose her words carefully. This guy had clearly fallen out of a nut tree and hit every branch on the way down. But telling him that was not going to help her.

"Your pack?," she asked. This seemed to please him. He obviously liked to hear himself talk.

"We are the wolves," he told her proudly.

"Is that what the carvings are about?," she asked, gesturing to her forehead. He nodded again, then reached forward and ran his thumb over the scar on her right cheek.

"You won't need a marking," he said, "because you have already been marked as one of us." That's what this is about, she thought. Her ugly ass face scars? Well there's another reason to hate the governor. She had heard of a lot of weird fetishes, but loving facial scars was a new one.

"Derek?," RickyJo said. He seemed to like to hear her say his name.

"Yes?," he answered.

"If you are going to steal my rabbits," she said, "would you mind telling your girl there to stop ruining them?" The girl had clearly never butchered an animal before, strange for a wolf, and was making a real mess out of the rabbits she had been given to prepare. Derek looked over near the fire pit. Then he got to his feet and walked over to the girl, backhanding her so hard across the face it knocked her to the ground. RickyJo gasped. She hadn't meant for that to happen, she had only been trying to distract him so she could make a run for it. Now she wasn't going anywhere without the girl. RickyJo got to her feet and approached the firepit.

"I can show you how to do it the right way," she offered to the girl, "if you want." The girl nodded, looking scared. RickyJo leaned down and helped her back up into a sitting position. Derek walked back and took the place she had been sitting in, leaning against the tree. He figure someone ought to teach that stupid girl to do something besides spread her whore legs. And he liked that RickyJo was taking charge of the girl already. He knew she would be good for his pack. RickyJo picked up the knife and the girl flinched.

"I am not going to hurt you," she told her, "its alright." The girl seemed to relax a little. "I already field dressed them when I caught them," she told the girl, "that means taking the guts out so they don't spoil the meat." The girl didn't nod or respond but she seemed to be listening. RickyJo could tell by the marks on her face that today was not the first time she had been hit. "Next we take the feet off," she said, showing the girl how it was done and then handing her the knife and having her do the other rabbit. The girl caught on quick. "Next we take the head off." RickyJo popped the head off of the rabbit she was holding. She threw it hard at a man that was sitting on the other side of the fire, watching them. "Hot potato," she called to him. This made the men laugh. Good, she thought, relax and drop your guard, then I am getting the fuck out of here. "Then we are going to skin them," she told the girl. "Cut around the middle like this, careful not to slice into the meat, and then grip both sides hard and pull." RickyJo demonstarted for her, the skin and fur pulling away cleanly and leaving her with a dressed and ready to cook rabbit. The girl did the same, smiling down proudly at the rabbit she was holding.

"Good job," Jared told her. RickyJo smiled at her. She also noticed that the men were not watching them as closely now, so she leaned in close to the girl.

"You want to get the hell out of here or what," she whispered quickly. The girl nodded, a scared but determined look in her eyes. For the first time, she felt a little of the hope she had lost start to return. "Follow my lead and be ready to run when I say," RickyJo told her. Then she turned like nothing was going on and started asking the men where the pots and pans were. They didn't have any, so she made a spit for the rabbit out of long sturdy sticks. She grabbed a few green bendy ones and set them with one end in the fire. She also 'accidentally' kicked a few good medium sized rocks away from the fire while she was setting up the spit. Then she waited. She knew it wouldn't take long for Derek to try and get close to her again.

Derek was watching the woman. The way her body moved and her face when she smiled. He also noticed that Dani was sitting against a tree with an ugly scowl on her face. Well she was no longer number one, and she would just have to get used to it. RickyJo had already taught the new girl more in ten minutes than Dani had taught her the whole time she had been with them. He gave his sister a big grin and stood up to approach RickyJo. He touched her lightly on her upper arm with his knuckles. She smiled at him and bent down, pretending to be tending the fire.

"Are you sure about the whole wolf thing?," she asked him as casually as she could, "I mean its not too late to change your mind and be a lizard." Derek was surprised at her comment. She did have that big lizard tattooed on her leg, so maybe they were the animals she identified with, just like he did with wolves.

"Why would I want to be a lizard?," he asked her. This might turn out to be an interesting discussion. Certainly it was better than listening to Jared and Jon talk about their farts or how much pussy they had got, would get and wanted to get.

"Because," RickyJo told him, getting a firm grip on one of the long green wood sticks she had stuck into the fire a few minutes before, "when I am done with you, you are going to wish you could grow back your limbs." With that she yanked the burning branch out of the fire and whipped him hard across the face with it, sending him reeling to the ground, screaming and holding his cheek. She whipped him again and then grabbed the rocks at he feet. The other two men looked bewildered, like they weren't sure exactly what to do. She threw a rock at one of them, hitting him in the head, and then launched the other one at Jared. He had the sense to try and duck, but he wasn't fast enough and the rock hit him in his ear, making him yelp. RickyJo turned to the girl.

"Run!," she screamed. She didn't wait for the girl to move, she grabbed her by the hand and took off. Once she was a few yards away, she started screaming for Daryl and Merle, running as fast as she could back in the direction that she hoped Alexandria was. She was running so fast, she bowled Merle right over. He and Daryl had noticed she was missing and had been following her tracks. She got back to her feet and helped him up.

"What tha fuck is going on?," he demanded.

"Just run," she told him. He and Daryl didn't need to be told twice. RickyJo didn't scare easy and if she was runnning, she had a good reason. They all high tailed it back to the Safe Zone. Once they were inside, RickyJo insisted on running back to the house to check on MJ before she would say what was going on. She was on the border of hysteria about someone being inside their house and watching her. Daryl hated to say it, but he wondered what she had been smoking out there in the woods. They had to search the whole house before she would stop hollering. Spencer had run and got his mother, and Deanna was the one that got RickyJo to sit down and tell them what happened.


	27. Chapter 27

The Wolves

Jared was rubbing his ear, holding his sleeve on it, trying to stop the bleeding. His head was ringing. Derek was holding the searing whip mark on his face and howling in pain and anger. That fucking bitch. Acting all nice and then hiting him in the face. Wait until he got ahold of her again. He was going to give her more than flowers next time he saw her, that was for sure.

Dani looked around at the men, who didn't seem as tough now as she had thought they were. One girl had turned them from wolves into sniveling babies with nothing but a bendy stick and a few rocks. As far as she was concerned, it served Derek right for acting foolish over that woman and thinking he could replace her so easily. She started gettting things together and packing up their campsite.

"What the fuck are you doing?," Derek asked her.

"She got away," Dani said, "She knows where our camp is. Her people are going to come looking for us. We have to leave." Derek started swearing. Dani was fucking right. He had been heading in to do some more spying when he had happened upon RickyJo. And he had been so eager to get her back here that he didn't think about the possible consequences. And now the people in this town knew not only where his camp was, but how many of them there were and that they were out here. He wasn't going to be able to just sneak in like they did at the last place, because now these people knew that he was coming. They were going to be hunting him, and that was not the way he liked it. "We could just leave," Dani said, "go back to the old camp or find a different place to take over."

"No!," Derek screamed at her. He still wanted that woman and he aimed to get what he was after. And now he wanted to take this town more than he had before. He would just have to think of another way to do it.

"Well we have to leave this camp," Dani screamed back, "they are coming for us and I don't intend on getting caught." Jared watched the exchange. He had never seen Dani yell back at Derek before. And he guessed part of it was her anger over how he had been treating that woman. Jared didn't understand what all the fuss was about. She was pretty, but he had seen prettier. And she was a lot older than Derek liked, maybe even older than him. Derek had her up in this camp treating her like she was the queen of fucking sheba and they had all got their asses kicked because of it. That bitch had hit him so hard with that rock, it had split his ear and busted his eardrum. Now he wasn't going to be able to hear out of that ear for a while and that could cost him his life if an ugly snuck up on him. And worst of all, she had taken off with his goddamn woman. He had liked that girl. She was pretty and had a nice body. And she had been well behaved too. It was going to be hard to find another one that easy to control.

Jon had a nasty bump on his head, and a throbbing headache, but he was otherwise unharmed. He got up and started helping Dani pack. If Derek wanted to stay here and face an entire army alone, he could knock himself out. Ever since he had found that picture he had been acting crazy, well crazier than normal at least. He gagged that woman and dragged her back to their camp at gunpoint. Did he think that was going to make her legs magically open up for him. If he wanted her so bad, he should have just taken her while he had the chance and gotten that shit out of his system.

Derek cursed a few more times and then starting packing up like everyone else. He knew no matter how much he would like to think he could take on that entire group, they were outnumbered probably ten to one. And some of the men there had not looked as sheepish as he liked to pretend they were. The wolves were going, but they were not running scared, only finding a place to regroup and think of another plan.

"We are going to head the opposite way that we want to go and then double back," Derek told everyone. Jared nodded. At least Derek was starting to make some sense again. Jared would have been alright with leaving, but if Derek wanted to stay and try to fuck with these people some more, he was down. He actually really wanted that girl back, or at least another one to replace her. "We will watch them a while like we planned to and then come up with another way to attack them," Derek said. Yeh, Jared thought, because your dumbass ruined the element of surprise. He didn't say anything though. The pack was small enough, if they turned on each other now, they were dead for sure.


	28. Chapter 28

Alexandria

"He had a picture of you," the girl said, pointing to RickyJo. Everyone turned to look at her, making her feel shy and embarassed again. The older woman that had been taking to the woman that helped her escape came over and took her hand. She set the girl down in a chair next to RickyJo.

"What's your name?," Deanna asked her. She had to think about it a minute, which made her feel crazy. Those men had been calling her girl. But that wasn't her name. She swallowed hard.

"Kim," she said. That was what her mother called her, before those men had raped and killed her.

"Hello Kim," Deanna said, trying to make the girl feel more comfortable. "I'm Deanna, the leader of this group. It would help us if you could tell us what you know."

"Those men that took me," Kim said, "they found a backpack with pictures in it. Black and white ones. She was in one of them, holding that baby." She pointed to RickyJo.

"Aaron's pack," Daryl offered, "right before we found Morgan and Jess, we got swarmed by a herd and he dropped it. Had the pictures inside." Deanna nodded. Now this was starting to make more sense. RickyJo had been insisting the man was stalking her, but she had also insisted that she had never seen him before, which wasn't making a lot of sense. If it had been anyone else, Deanna would have thought she was just being hysterical.

"I fucking told Aaron I hate having my picture taken," RickyJo announced. Deanna tried hard not to laugh at that. This was clearly not Aaron's fault for taking her picture, RickyJo just liked to think of reasons to hate him for asking Daryl to go on the road and help him with the recruiting. Kim was looking at RickyJo again.

"He said you were his life mate," Kim told her. This kicked Merle off again. He had already been ranting and raving a few minutes before and Deanna had to scream at him to shut him up so she could hear RickyJo talk.

"Life mate? That fucker's life is over. I am going to stick my foot so far up his ass he is going to taste my feet. I am going to kill that fucker and let him turn then kill him again," he hollered. Deanna had heard just about enough of that to last her the rest of her life.

"Well then go on and go get them then," she suggested. The men looked surprised at first and then they started getting pumped up. They knew the group they were after was only four people and one of them was a woman. Rick started taking volunteers and putting together groups when RickyJo started yelling again.

"No!," she said, "he might already be inside the walls, waiting for you all to leave and go look for him." That creep had already snuck inside her house once, and even though the house had already been searched, she was afraid he might get in again. They had not seen the mad look in his eyes. That Derek guy was a few bricks short of a full house and there was no telling what he would do. After some debate, it was decided that everyone remaining in town was going to go to Deanna's house or stay at RickyJo's house. Abraham was staying at RickyJo's, with the kids and the girls, most of whom were also armed. And Tobin and Francine were staying at Deanna's to keep an eye on the people there. Everyone else was divided into two groups. One group was hunting the wolves, and the other group was looking for Sasha, who was still not back. Bob went with that group and Rosita with the other, so each group had a medic in case they found Sasha and she was hurt.

RickyJo would have been happier if Daryl or Merle would stay with her, but the two of them were practically foaming at the mouth to get out there and kick some ass. She knew Abraham wouldn't let anything happen to her. And she had Jessica there, plus Beth, Eugene and Carol. The kids were all staying too, although a few of them were angry to be treated as babies, especially Carl. He was a better shot than Michonne, and she was going. It just wasn't fair. Sammie felt the same, although she believed RickyJo when she said she thought the man was coming for them. Staying here and waiting felt just as scary as going out to hunt the other group.

Noah was watching the new girl. After Deanna had got done talking to her, she had moved over by the fireplace and was looking like she wished she could melt into the carpet and disappear. All the yelling had not scared him, but he knew these people. Merle always yelled, and Rick wasn't much better. Kim had looked at them like she was terrified, her eyes getting wider and wider as they yelled louder. She also looked like she might be have been pretty, before someone worked her face over for her. And she looked skinny. Too skinny. Like they had all looked when they had first gotten here. Noah walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. The girl just about jumped out of her skin.

"Sorry," he said, "I just thought you might be hungry. There's food in the kitchen." She gave him a blank stare for a minute and then got up. He took her hand and led her into the kitchen. Duane and Carl were already in there, scarfing down anything in sight and trying to talk Carol into making them something else to eat. Sammie was playing cards at the table with Cassie and Desiree. Carol looked at Noah questioningly. "No one bothered to offer her anything to eat," he told Carol, "she looked hungry."

"You hungry?," Carol asked the girl. She nodded her head. "Go on and sit down at the table then," Carol told her, "I was just about to make something anyway." Duane and Carl fived each other.

"Will you make us cookies too?," Duane asked her.

"No," Carol told them firmly.

"Please?," Duane begged her. Carl was rubbing his head on her, making little puppy noises. She smacked at him, but he jumped back out of her reach.

"I don't have any chocolate," she told him.

"We can go get some," Carl offered.

"No one is supposed to leave," Desiree reminded him. Duane gave her the finger and mouthed shut up at her.

"We will be really quick," Carl added, ignoring Desiree, the little scare baby.

"We will take our guns," Duane said hopefully.

"I can go too," Noah offered, not wanting to seem scared in front of the new girl or Cassie.

"You better be back in ten minutes or I am telling Abraham you are gone," Carol told them. Now Duane was jumping up and down like a prarie dog. They all took off out the back door before Carol could change her mind and make them stay. Sammie laughed at them. Silly boys trying to act big and bad, going to steal some candy so momma Carol would make them cookies. Cassie poked at her under the table. Now that the boys were gone, she had a question for Sammie.

"You let Carl do it to you yet?," she asked her. Sammie turned bright red almost instantly. Carol looked at her. The answer to that question had better be no, but judging by the look on Sammie's face it might not be. She had been meaning to talk to Sammie, but she hadn't been in a hurry since she thought they were a little young to be going that far already. Carol walked over to the table and gave Sammie a serious look.

"You haven't been having intercourse with that boy, have you?," she asked her. The girls all looked at her and then all of them except the new girl burst into laughter. But the new girl did crack a smile. "What the hell is so funny?," Carol demanded. This made them laugh harder, since it was obviously the word intercourse that just sounded ridiculous. Cassie put one foot up on her chair, spreading her legs and throwing her head back.

"Next time I see Spencer," she said, "Intercourse me baby!" Desiree was staring at her sister with her mouth open and Sammie was laughing so hard now her face was turning even redder than before.

"For christssakes," Carol grumbled. These girls were all nothing but boy crazy. She tried to remember if she had been that way at that age, but she didn't think so. Tossing her hands up in defeat, she went back to the casserole she was making. They could all hump their little brains out for all she cared. It did irritate her a little to think that a bunch of fourteen year olds were getting more action than her. Maybe that Tobin guy had not been so bad after all. Sammie looked at the new girl, Kim was her name if she heard right before.

"You were with the bad guys?," she asked her. Kim nodded. "They do that to your face?" She nodded again. "They rape you too?" Desiree sucked in her breath. No one had really told her what rape was, but she knew it was something bad that men did to women. Kim looked down at her hands.

"Yes," she said quietly. Sammie put her arm around the girl.

"Some men raped me too once," she told her, "but RickyJo and Daryl saved me. Some other people helped them... but they are all dead now." Kim felt her eyes start to fill with tears. It was the first time she really let herself think about the things those men had done to her. Sammie hugged the girl close and rubbed her back. "Have you had a shower yet?" Sammie asked her. She remembered that washing up had made her feel a lot better after her ordeal. Kim wiped at her face and shook her head. Sammie looked at Carol, who nodded to let her know they had plenty of time for the girl to wash up before they ate.

So Sammie took Kim by the hand and led her upstairs. Cassie and Desiree found some clean clothes for her. She was closest in height to RickyJo. RickyJo was sleeping on her bed with MJ in her arms, but Jessica said it was more than fine for them to take a few things for the girl. Cassie got her a soft pair of pants and a tank top, plus a big flannel to put on over it. Then she got some underwear and a bra from her own things for her. Even Jessica got involved, fixing Kim's hair and cutting her bangs so the marks on her head wouldn't show. When she looked in the mirror, Kim didn't recognize herself, but at least the girl looking back at her was starting to look like a normal person again.

Duane, Carl and Noah booked it down to the storage building. RickyJo's horse followed after them, sniffing at the boys and trying to decide which one it liked best. It seemed this person was Carl, since it started nibbling at his head and neck, knocking his hat off his head. Sammie rode the horse a lot and her scent lingered on the boy. Carl swatted at the horse, trying to get it to leave him alone. They were trying to move fast and sneaky and having a big noisy horse following them around wasn't helping. It followed them all the way to the storage building and then smelled something it must not have liked and took off like something bit it.

The place was locked up, but Duane jimmied the door so they could get in. He had seen his dad do it a thousand times before when they were looking for supplies. The boys ran in a got the chocolate out of the freezer. But there was a strange knocking sound coming from one of the closets. Carl moved to open the door, but Noah yanked him back. He had heard a lot of walkers, and that sounded like a walker.

"Get ready first," he said. Duane and Carl got their knives out. Noah pulled his and then put one hand on the door. He pulled it open about six inches and then jammed it with his foot. He could see an arm poking out, grabbing for them. "Who is it?," he asked. He was worried it was Sasha.

"It looks like that fat lady that always sits in here," Duane announced.

"Its not very nice to say she's fat," Noah told him, "especially if shes dead." Duane shrugged. Fat was fat and not saying it didn't make her any skinnier. And she looked like she was pretty far past caring about what anyone said anyway. Carl stepped forward and plunged his knife into the top of her head. Noah let go of the door and she spilled out onto the floor in front of them. Duane poked at her with his boot to turn her over onto her back.

"Yeah," Carl said, "that looks like Olivia. And someone carved her head up like that girl Kim was carved up."

"I bet the wolves did it," Duane said, excited to have figured out the mystery. Noah was looking like he might be sick. Knowing who killed her didn't make her stink any less.

"I think we better get back," Carl told them. Both boys nodded and then ran back to the house like someone was chasing them. They burst in the backdoor and almost scared Carol half to death. How three out of breath boys managed to all yell at her at the same time, she didn't know. But the gist of the excitement was that they had found Olivia dead in the storage building and the wolves had done it. Abraham had come into the kitchen doorway to listen.

"You think they might have just done it?," he asked. Noah thought about it and shook his head.

"She stunk pretty bad," he said, "I bet they did it yesterday when they were sneaking around here." Abraham nodded. He felt bad for the woman. No one had even noticed she was missing. And he was scared for Sasha. Things were looking worse and worse for her. But he was more worried that the wolves had been in the storage area where they kept all their guns and ammunition. One more reason why it was a bad idea to have all that stuff in one place. At the very least, they were all well armed now, with more than knives and guns with no ammo. And at the worst, they had disabled most of the weapons in the locker or screwed with the ammo somehow. He hoped they weren't that smart, but they had clearly been smart enough to sneak in there in the first place. Either way, there was nothing he could do now except sit tight. If there was a chance the wolves were inside the walls, he wasn't going to leave these people unprotected.

Rick followed behind Merle and Daryl. He couldn't see anything, but they looked like they knew were they were going. To them the trail was probably as easy to read as a street sign. Rick was having a hard time keeping his mind on the task at hand. He kept thinking about Beth being back at the house and whether or not it was safer to leave her there or bring her with him. She wanted to stay with Judith, so he had let her. It was probably safer there anyway, but he always felt best when she was with him and he could actually see her. Maybe it was because he was afraid they might get separated again like when the prison had fallen, or maybe he had just gotten used to keeping her close when they were on the road here.

Merle stomped into the campsite, cursing under his breath. Wherever those fuckers went, they were not stupid enough to stay here long after RickyJo got away. Just to be safe, he looked up and checked the trees, noticing that Michonne was doing the same. Daryl spotted a little blood on the gound next to the tree. It was dark and dried up by now, but it made him happy. RickyJo said she had gotten a few good ones in on those freaks before she ran. Guess she made at least one of them bleed. It made him a little sick to think about them holding her here against her will and what might have happened if she had not been able to get away. Merle kicked at the rabbit skins with his boot. Besides all the other crap these assholes did, they had ruined his hunt and ate his fucking dinner to boot.

The wolves had been walking in and out of the camp and all around the area, so it took a while to find the trail they took to leave. The first trail they followed looked like someone had been dragged down it. But what they found at the end of it was not the wolves, but something so terrible that Merle had to walk away behind a bush so he could sick up without everyone seeing him. Sasha was tied naked to a tree, her arms bound behind her. She had struggled so hard to get away that one of her shoulders was pulled out of the socket. There was a W carved into her forehead that had plainly been put there while she was still alive. A walker was crouching on the ground in front of her, still gnawing on a piece of her that it had ripped off while she was still alive. Now she was one of the undead, her eyes glassy, struggling at the bonds that held her to try and get to the people that used to be her family and now were only warm flesh to her.

It was Rosita and Michonne that had the stomach to put her down and cut her off the tree. None of the men could do it. They laid her down on the ground and covered her face with her shirt, which they had found a few feet away. Taking her back to camp and burying her would have to come later. Now more than ever, they needed to find the men that did this.


	29. Chapter 29

The Wolves

The hunt for the wolves had been a bust. Early that morning, Sasha and Olivia's funerals had been held, and things around town were tense. Everyone knew that the men who raped and killed two of their women were still out there. People had been told not to go anywhere alone, and not to go anywhere unarmed. Even Deanna and her husband had started carrying weapons on them. No one was being allowed out of the walls except the groups that were going out searching for the wolves.

Derek watched the silly people. The reason why they couldn't find him, is they were looking in the wrong place. He wasn't outside the walls, his pack was hiding out in one of the empty houses, right here under their stupid piggy noses. Derek had come up with a plan. He was eventually going to bring his undead army here to take the town. But he wanted to mess with these people a little more first. And he was thinking about giving the woman he wanted one more chance to come with him willingly. He had gotten one good glimpse of her, walking down the street with the man that was missing a hand and the other one that carried the crossbow. Otherwise, she had been staying inside. Derek guessed she was scared of him, and he liked the idea that he was having such a dramatic effect on her.

"Today is the day," he told his pack. "We wait for the next big group to go out looking for us, and then I want you all in position." Jared and Jon nodded. They already knew the plan, and it was a good one. Jared was looking forward to getting some hurt in on these people. They wanted them running scared when they came back to finish them off. Jared checked his rifle again, making sure it was fully loaded and getting a feel for it. He had always been a good shot, its one of the reasons that Derek had kept him around in the first place. Jon wasn't quite as good, but he mostly going to be backup anyway.

Derek watched as a group of people came out of one of the houses. They were all geared up with guns and bows, going to try and hunt him, not knowing that they were the ones being hunted. He was sad to see that the two men that seemed to linger most around his woman were leaving with the group. Derek had been hoping they would be here when he made his move. Well, it was no matter, he would get them both in time. One sheep was as good as another.

Rick was near the gate talking to Glen and Abraham when he heard the knocking. _Little pig, little pig, let me come in._ It startled all of them. Their people didn't knock on the gate. The men exchanged glances. Rick and Abraham held up their guns and Glen got the gate. There was just a single man standing on the other side. And he was smiling at them. He had a gun on his hip and another strapped to his back. There were some kind of weird gloves on his hands, they looked like some kind of homemade Freddy Krueger claws. From her description of the man, Rick guessed this must be Derek, the leader of the wolves and the man that killed Sasha.

"You have something in there that belongs to me," Derek told them.

"I highly doubt that," Abraham told him, raising his gun and preparing to shoot the man.

"There are snipers with their guns trained on you," Derek told them. Glen and Abraham started looking around, trying to see if they could spot anyone. Rick kept his eyes on Derek. "I want to talk to RickyJo," Derek said.

"There is about a dick's chance in hell of that happening," Abraham told the man.

"I also have one of your people hostage," Derek said. That was a lie, but since he had kidnapped and killed that black girl, he knew they would believe him. "She is going to die unless you get RickyJo out here now." Rick looked at Abraham. There was no time to do a roll call and see if anyone was missing.

"If you have one of our people," Rick said, "tell us who." Derek smiled.

"I didn't catch her name," Derek said, "but if I don't get what I want, I guarantee she will be screaming mine later." Rick moved in with his gun. "Remember the snipers," Derek scolded him, "Whoever takes a shot at me will be the first to die." Rick was seriously considering taking the chance, but he was worried that might get whoever had been snatched up killed.

"Bring RickyJo out here," Derek said, "and I will release the woman I took." Abraham was shaking his head.

"What do you want with her?," Rick asked. As if he couldn't guess.

"Just to talk to her," Derek said in a voice that was eerily calm, "if she doesn't like what I have to say, I will release your group member and go." Rick thought about it. He didn't believe the man, but he wasn't sure what else to do. He nodded his head at Glen to go get RickyJo. The men stood at a tense standoff for a few minutes and then Rick saw Derek smile again. It seemed to be a genuine one this time. RickyJo and Glen were riding her horse at a brisk pace in their direction. When they got there, she gave Glen an arm down and then swung her leg over and landed softly on her feet. She had her gun on her leg and her bow in her hands, arrow notched and pointing at Derek.

"There's no need for that," Derek told her, "I would never hurt you." Of course not, she thought, you just want to rape me and force me to be your creepy wolf mate. Well I am no dog, I am a wildcat and you haven't even begun to feel my claws. She kept her face neutral, but she was happy to see the long red welt across his face where she had whipped him. Fucker was going to get more than that if he didn't learn to leave her alone.

"You are the one that needs to worry about getting hurt," she told him. The psycho was smiling now, coming closer so his face was almost pressed against the bars of the outer gate.

"You are so beautiful," he told her. And he meant it. Riding up on that horse with her hair flying and her face flushed. Drawing her bow, like some kind of wild amazon woman. Now she was scowling at him and she still looked good.

"Can't you take a hint?," she asked him, "I don't want anything to do with you or your wacko wolf pack. Sasha was my friend and you fucking killed her you sick prick!" Derek wondered if Sasha was the nigger or the fat ass, but he decided he would save that question for another day. Abraham could tell RickyJo was really close to losing her cool. She might put two in this guy and call it a day, let the chips fall where they would.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this," Derek said.

"Do what?," RickyJo asked him. This guy was really pissing her off. What had she fucking done to deserve this. All she wanted to do was raise her son in peace and this sick nutjob had to come along and ruin it. She had enough fucking problem without having to deal with this.

"I will give you the choice," Derek told her, "either come with me or someone you care about will die."

"What the fuck are you talking about," RickyJo said.

"He says he has one of our people," Abraham told her. She looked at him. He might have someone, but it wasn't one of their people, she had just been at the house with all of them that weren't part of the search party and she doubted he grabbed any of them without anyone knowing. He was fucking bluffing.

"I am not going anywhere with you," RickyJo told him, looking at him square in the eyes. Derek backed up from the gate. They were watching him closely in case he went for his gun. But he didn't. Instead he held his hands up over his head and clapped three times. Before any of them understood what was going on, Glen's head exploded. Rick and Abraham flattened themselves against the wall, but RickyJo was at the gate, taking aim. The tears were filling her eyes and she could feel the bile rising up in her throat but she forced herself to take a deep breath. Then she let her arrow fly. Just as Derek disappeared into the bushes, she saw it hit him in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground behind a bush and out of sight. Abraham grabbed her and held her close to him against the wall. She was looking at Glen now. His brains and blood were leaking out onto the pavement. Glen, the one she had sneaked into Atlanta with all those times to get food to feed the group at the quarry. She could see the smile on his face as they sat on top of Dale's RV, eating stale gummy bears and watching the kids pig out on the candy they gave them. Glen was the one that could always look on the other side of the coin and see the good in everyone. Glen who loved his wife more then he loved himself. RickyJo felt Abraham's arms holding her back. Then she started screaming and she didn't stop until everything turned black.


	30. Chapter 30

Alexandria

RickyJo could hear the voices in the room start to come into focus. Panic started to rise up inside her but then she felt her son cuddling close next to her and relaxed. And all the voices she could hear were familiar. MJ climbed on top of her, yanking at her shirt and then she could hear Daryl's voice. Get that kid offa her, he is using her for a damn jungle gym. Mind ur own fucking business, thats what he always does. That sounded like Merle. Then a child's voice she guessed was Desiree. Uncle Merle, are you and Uncle Daryl going to fight again? God Willing! That one was Jessica and it was coming from a little futher away.

What RickyJo was trying to figure out now, was why everyone was gathered around her while she was sleeping. She wondered if she was hurt. She didn't feel hurt. Her head was pounding and her throat felt dry. And the toe she had broken kicking Jessie's husband in the ribs still felt a little sore. But other than that she felt fine. Rubbing at her eyes a little, she opened them and then used her hands to try and push herself up into a sitting position. Daryl reached under her arms, helping her to sit up and then handing her a glass of water. She gulped it down in a few big swigs and set the glass on the bedside table. Then she adjusted herself and MJ so he could nurse. Her breasts felt full and heavy so it must have been longer than usual since she fed him last.

Now she just needed to figure out what happened to her. RickyJo tried to think of the last thing she could remember. An image of riding towards the front gate on her horse with Glen came to mind. And then it all came flooding back. Daryl watched her closely. She had seemed okay at first, but then he could see her face start to crumble. Then she closed her eyes, swallowing hard a few times. When she opened them, she only had one question for them.

"Did you get him?," she asked. Merle thought about lying to her, but he knew it would just make her angry. He shook his head.

"When we got back, that fucker was long gone. We tracked him to the spot where he pulled the arrrow out of his shoulder, but then they took to the road," Merle told her.

"How much blood was there?," she asked. She knew she had hit Derek but she didn't know how good of a shot it was. Maybe it was a bad enough wound that it might kill him.

"Not enough," Daryl said.

"Damn," RickyJo remarked, "I did get him though. Next one is going straight up his ass." Daryl and Merle both laughed.

"Maybe he won't come back?," Desiree commented hopefully. None of the adults had the heart to tell her, but a man like that. He would always come back. He wasn't going to stop until he killed them or they killed him.

"How long was I out?," RickyJo asked. She was starting to notice that she felt a little stiff, like she needed to have a good stretch.

"Since yesterday," Merle told her, "guess you needed the rest." RickyJo looked him over. He clearly had not had any rest. His eyes were red around the rims and he looked like a horse that had been rode hard and put away wet. They had been out looking for Derek the day before, probably until it got dark. And then he must have stayed up, keeping an eye on her. She patted the bed next to her.

"I think you need some," she told him. For a second it looked like he might fight her on it, but the truth was, he was so exhausted, he felt like he might be the next one to pass out of he didn't lay down. RickyJo hefted her son up into her arms and stood up. Everyone else took this as a sign to get out of the room and head downstairs. Desiree got a thin blanket off the chair and used it to cover Merle up, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek. She thought about going downstairs with everyone else, than changed her mind and climbed up into bed with her uncle. He pulled the blanket over both of them, his eyes so heavy he didn't even bother to open them. Jessica wore a soft wistful smile as she looked in at them from the hall. The old familiar thought that Desiree should have been his daughter came into her mind. She thought she had gotten over that years ago, but it was suddenly fresh and painful again. It always made her feel sad and filled her with regret. For years she pushed the guilt down by telling herself that Merle would have been a terrible father anyway, but seeing him with MJ and RickyJo, it was hard to keep believing that. People had a few moments in time, pivotal decisions to make that in their lives that set the course for a certain path. The problem was that you didn't always know you were making them until it was too late.

Beth and Rick woke up to the sound of screaming. It was loud and terrible and coming from downstairs inside their house. Rick bolted out of bed and grabbed his gun, running for the stairs in nothing but his boxer shorts. Beth leaped up and threw on one of his big t-shirts that covered her down to her thighs. She snatched her gun up and took off after him.

Rick bolted down the stairs, taking them three or four at a time. When he hit the landing, he could see that it was Sammie that was screaming, but he couldn't see why until he got all the way downstairs. Maggie was hanging by a rope from the ceiling fan, and Carl had her by the legs, trying to lift her up to keep her from strangling to death. Rick rushed in and grabbed her legs. Since he was taller and stronger, he could lift her easily.

"Cut the rope," he yelled to Carl, who was already righting the chair Maggie had used to hang the rope. It was a thick one, so instead of cutting it, he grabbed the knot and loosened it so he could slip it off from around her head. His father collapsed on the floor, with Maggie on top of him. Then he was rolling her over and Beth was running in to grab at her, shaking her to try and wake her up.

She knew her sister had been upset the night before. Glen's death had been devastating for all of them, but Maggie had to be dragged away from his dead body. Then she had grabbed her gun and tried to take off after the wolves by herself. Abraham and Rick had to hold her down in the street. When they brought her back to the house, she had been inconsolable. Beth guessed she had never really dealt with the death of their father, or many of the other people they had lost. Maggie had just kept telling herself that as long as Glen was alright, she would be alright. They had each other, and that was all they needed. And now she only had herself. Beth had tried to remember the things Maggie had said to her when she was ready to end her life, running her hands over the thin scars on her wrists. But none of it had helped.

Finally there had been a knock on the door. Daryl was on the porch and he had opened her hand and pressed two small blue football shaped pills into her hand. He had nodded towards Maggie, then walked down the steps without a word. Beth didn't know where he got them, or why they weren't in the infirmary with the rest of the medications where they were supposed to be, she had just been grateful. She had told Maggie they were for her shoulder, which she had hurt fighting with Abraham and Rick when she was trying to leave. Maggie had swallowed them down without question and twenty minutes later she had been sound asleep on the couch. Beth had covered her up and went to bed herself, falling asleep amost as soon as her head hit her pillow. She had thought she could get up and talk to Maggie some more in the morning. Never in a million years had she thought Maggie would do something like this.

Now Beth was shaking her and crying, yelling for Maggie to wake up, please wake up. She felt herself knocked out of the way, not with a forceful or hurtful blow, but with some urgency. Eugene was leaning over her sister, putting his fingers on her throat. Then he put his mouth over hers, breathing into it. He pumped up and down on her chest and then breathed into her mouth again, pinching her nose closed with one hand and tipping her chin back with the other. After the third breath, Maggie started coughing. Eugene turned her on her side and patted her back gently. He had not even know was he was going to do until he pushed Beth out of the way. Then instinct had kicked in. Once his younger brother had almost drown at the lake and a woman they didn't know had yanked him out and gived him mouth to mouth. It had saved his life that day. Eugene thought maybe that had just stuck in his mind, waiting for the moment when he could pay Maggie back for helping him the day that Abraham had beat him almost to death.

Beth was on the floor, hugging him and thanking him before she turned to help her sister. Rick patted him on the back and the kids were staring at him with wonder. In that moment, Eugene felt something he hadn't before. He couldn't fight or run, and he wasn't good at killing walkers, but he knew now he was a valued member of this group. Everyone else had panicked and he had been the one to do what needed to be done. He had saved Maggie. Tara reached down her hand and helped him up to his feet.

"Good job," she told him. Carl and Sammie echoed this statement. Then Tara sent the kids to go get Rosita, and she reminded them to take their guns with them, since the wolves were still out there. Maggie looked okay, but it wouldn't hurt to have someone check her over and make sure. Beth sat her up and Tara brought her a glass of water. There was an angry red ring of rope burn around her neck that was so raw it was bleeding in a few spots. Maggie took the water and sipped it.

"You should have let me die," she said quietly to her sister. Beth took her hand and held it. She knew words weren't going to make Maggie feel better, only time could do that. Out of the two of them, Beth had always considered Maggie the tough one. She had never been afraid to stand up to their father, who despite being fair and kind, had been a very intimidating man when it came to his ideals and rules for the girls. Now Beth understood that their roles had changed. Maggie had Glen to take care of her from the very beginning of the outbreak. She had never been on her own, surrounded by strange and dangerous people the way Beth had been. Beth was happy she had Rick to care for her, but she also knew that if she lost him, she was capable of looking out for herself. And Maggie wasn't even alone now, like Beth had been, she was in a safe place surrounded by people that loved and cared for her. Beth got up and then pulled her sister up to her feet. What Maggie needed now was a little tough love.

"Its time to go bury Glen," she told her. Maggie shook her head.

"I can't do it," Maggie told her.

"Yes," Beth told her, "you can, because I will be there with you." Maggie nodded.

"You might want to put some clothes on first," she suggested. Beth looked down at herself. She had forgotten she was wearing nothing but a tshirt and nothing underneath it. And she had been ready to walk right out of the house like that too. She felt so silly that Beth couldn't help but laugh. Maggie didn't laugh, but she did smile, which gave Beth hope that her sister might be able to find the strength she needed to get past her loss.

After people got done saying what they needed to say, Deanna said a few words and then they started shoveling the dirt in on another grave. Bob had not had anything to say, he had followed them out and then sat down by Sasha's grave and started in on another bottle. Maggie started to head back to the house and then changed her mind and sat down next to him, taking the bottle from his hand and getting a good long burning swallow.

"At least he went quick," Bob told her. Coming from anyone else, it would have been a terrible thing to say. But coming from Bob after what had just happened to Sasha, it actually made Maggie feel a little better. Beth wanted her to come back to the house with her, but Maggie waved her off. She just wanted to sit here with Bob a while.

"I will be fine," Maggie assured her sister. Beth didn't look so sure. Rick leaned in a whispered to her.

"We are going to the meeting at Deanna's house," he said quietly into her ear, "you can watch her from the window." Beth gave in and followed him. She would rather take Maggie home than leave her getting drunk by Glen's grave, but maybe she and Bob could console each other. It might be good for both of them.


	31. Chapter 31

The Wolves

After counting them up, Derek realized not as many of his dead had been put down by whoever had escaped from them as he had first thought. When the traps went off, two of the trucks had stuck closed and those uglies had been shut safely inside. That was also likely part of the reason why the people had been able to escape from his trap, even if they had help. He had thought they would need to take a while to round up more dead, but now he knew what they already had would suit his plans just fine.

Now instead of catching uglies, he could rest a few days instead and let his shoulder heal up. He also wanted to make the people he meant to kill sweat a little. Maybe some of them would even come looking for him and he could pick them off one by one. Or maybe they were so dumb they would drop their guard and make it easier for him when he went back to get them.

He sent Jared and Jon out looking for the first thing they needed. A car. And at least one pig for the slaughter. But that could wait a few more days. If they caught someone now, they would have to keep them tied up until they were ready to go back, and that could get pretty annoying. Derek leaned back against the wall, feeling the point of the arrow that Dani had pulled out of his back. He ran his thumb back and forth across it, thinking about the woman that had shot him. He wondered if she regretted not leaving with him, now that her friend was dead. She just didn't understand what he was offering her yet. If she knew he was meant to be the leader of the new world order, he was sure she would change her mind. Or maybe she just didn't want to leave her baby behind. Wolves were always protective of their young. At first Derek had wanted to kill her baby, when a new alpha took over a pack, they usually killed all the young to force the females to go into heat. But Derek had liked watching her with her little one, especially when she had been using her breast to feed him. If it amused her, and if she promised not to run away again, he supposed she could keep her baby.

Dani was sitting a few feet away, sulking. She saw Derek looking at her and she crossed her arms and scowled at him. Fucking disrespectful is what that was. She had been catching a little attitude with him lately and he didn't like it one bit. And the other day after RickyJo had escaped from their camp, she had yelled at him. He had not forgotten about that. Derek raised his hand and motioned for her to come to him.

"Fuck you Derek," she said, "go back and try your luck with your stupid ass girlfriend." Dani knew she was probably going to take a beating for this, but she was so mad she didn't even care. And he needed her for the attack plan, so he wasn't going to be able to hurt her so she couldn't walk. Dani hated that woman with the tattoos more than she had ever hated anyone in her whole life. More than her father and mother and more than Derek on the days when he was at his worst. Derek could make his plans. She had plans of her own. When they went back there, she was going to kill that woman. Then Derek would stop all this nonsense and go back to being in love with her.

Derek was on his feet in an instant, grabbing her up by the arm and slapping her hard across the face. Then he threw her on the ground and started pulling at her clothes. She slapped him back, hard across the face with the open palm of her hand. He was so shocked it stopped him for a second, an angry red mark shaped like her hand welling up on his cheek. It had been a long time since the last time Dani fought him. He grabbed her around the throat, choking her. From the look on his face, Dani wasn't sure if he was going to stop. Is this it, she thought, everything we have done and seen and this is going to be the end for me? She let go of his arms and lay back, relaxing. A part of her wanted him to do it. If he didn't want her anymore, what was the point of living. She had never known a life without Derek.

But just when things were starting to go black, he let go of her. She was coughing and gasping for breath when he grabbed her shoulders hard and flipped her over, yanking her hips up so she was on her hands and knees. He ripped her pants down and shoved into her, holding her hard by the hair with one hand and taking the arrow head out of his pocket to hold it in his other hand. Dani was crying, angry at him and disgusted with herself for liking what he was doing. She would see how he much Derek wanted to think about that other woman while he rode her after Dani ripped her pretty little face off. The only army that bitch was going to be the leader of was the army of the dead. Thinking about what she was going to do excited Dani, the same way torturing women the guys had tied up did, and she found herself climaxing hard. Derek went a few seconds later, gripping the arrow head so hard it left marks on his palm, and mumuring that other woman's name. When he was done, he shoved Dani away from him like she was a disease. She pulled her pants back up and sat down, rubbing at her neck.

"Why do you hate me so much?," Dani asked him suddenly. Derek looked at her. Did she want to get choked out again, because he had no problem dishing out some more of what he had already given her.

"You are worthless to me now," Derek informed her. She looked confused so he thought he would explain. Dani had never exactly been the brightest bulb in the box. "You can't get pregnant." Dani was shocked. That's what all this was about, Derek wanted a baby? He didn't even like babies. And he had never said word one to her about this before. She felt a sudden surge of anger. If she was barren, he had made her that way from all the things he did to her back when she was still a girl. He had been taking her for years before she even got her period. It had probably screwed up something inside her and made it so could never have kids. And now he wanted to tell her she was worthless, what a fucking piece of shit. Well Derek was going to get his. He could count on that. By the end of this, she was going to have him on his knees, begging her to love him again.


	32. Chapter 32

Alexandria

Kim was still a little scared. Of these new people and of the men that had held her captive. She also couldn't remember the last time she had her period and that scared her too. What would these people do to her if she was pregnant and they found out her baby belonged the one of the wolves. And who would take care of her. Right now she was staying in the same room as Sammie. They had two beds, but she had been so afraid, Sammie had let her sleep in bed with her at night. The night before, Sammie's boyfriend had snuck in after everyone was asleep and they had gone in the other bed and rolled around with each other under the covers. From the sounds of it, they had been doing more than kissing. But after they were done, he snuck back out and Sammie got back into bed with Kim.

"You don't have to sleep with me if you don't want," Kim had told her. Sammie snuggled in and hugged her.

"Its okay," she said, "I used to have a sister and we slept in each others beds all the time." Sammie really didn't mind. She knew Kim was scared and it was kind of comfy having someone to sleep with, since she wasn't allowed to share a room with Carl yet. They had tried moving their stuff into the same room, but Carl's dad had told them no. He said they were too young and needed to have their own space. Sammie thought about pointing out the fact that she wasn't much younger than his girlfriend, but decided to keep her mouth shut. She liked Beth and didn't want to hurt her feelings.

Now Sammie was up and dressed. She was going with some of the other young people to pick green beans and squash, and maybe ride the horse around a little. And she was encouraging Kim to come with them. Kim had been too scared to leave the house, and Sammie thought it would do her good to get out.

"What if they try to grab us while we are out there?," Kim asked. Sammie held up her bow and then picked up her gun, which was in a holster on the dresser.

"Thats why we go packing," she said, "I am a good shot too, and so is Carl. Don't worry so much, Rick said after that meeting they had that it was fine to go outside as long as we are going in a group." Kim nodded. She decided she couldn't hide in here forever. Then she got up and started getting dressed.

"I wasn't going to stay inside forever," she insisted, "just until the wolves got caught." Sammie laughed and it made Kim laugh a little too. Sammie knew from what happened with the governor that catching the wolves might not happen for a while. They couldn't just stop living until then.

Downstairs, Cassie, Duane and Desiree were over from next door and Duane was cooking up waffles in a few electric waffle makers they had plugged in on the counter. Carl and Noah were helping him. And it looked like they were not doing that bad of a job. It smelled good at least. RickyJo came over from next door, shadowed closely by Daryl. She handed a jar of jam to Duane, who seemed to be in charge of the kitchen project.

"Heat that up with a little water and you can use it as syrup," she told him. Duane smiled and thanked her. She turned to head back out and slammed into Daryl, who was standing about an inch behind her.

"Goddamn it Daryl," she cursed. Daryl and Merle had both been up her fucking ass since that meeting when they said no one could go anywhere alone. She was only going next door, it was two fucking yards away. She was sure he could have watched her from the porch next door, instead of being all up in her space. Or better yet, let Jessica come with her like she had offered to do. They headed back out the door, buming into each other again. Sammie and Cassie laughed at them

"She has to lock the bathroom door," Cassie told Sammie, "or he will be trying to come up in there while she is showering." Cassie knew her Aunt Ricky was trying to be patient, but she could tell the woman was about to snap. Personally, Cassie thought it was all pretty funny. Her Aunt Ricky liked both of her Uncles, and now she had them, up in her fucking business twenty four seven. Driving her fucking crazy and following her everywhere. Every time she even stood up, they were like two prarie dogs. Where are you going? What are you doing? Let me go with you. When people went out to search for the wolves, only one of them would go, so the other one could stay home and babysit her.

Once RickyJo was outside, she took a deep breath and walked over to check on her herb garden. She pulled a few weeds and rubbed one of the leaves on her lemon balm plant, smelling it. Soon the plant would be big enough that they could cut some off to make iced tea without killing it. Daryl was looking around, keeping his eyes on the wall and the trees beyond.

"Time to go back in," he told her.

"Go ahead," she said, "I will be right there." He looked at her like she was crazy and made no move to leave. There was no way he was leaving RickyJo outside alone, and he really didn't like her being out here even if he was with her. Now he was so close, he was blocking the light, making it so she couldn't see her plants. "I know you want to watch me," RickyJo said, "but can't you see me from a little further away?"

"Why am I standing too close?," Daryl asked her. He got closer, so his body was touching hers. "How about now?" Then he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. "I can see ya real good from right here." She couldn't help but laugh. Daryl was driving her a little crazy, but she knew he was just trying to keep her safe. And in the back of her mind, she also knew he was a little afraid that she and Merle might take off again, like they did after the governor attacked her. She popped a mint leaf into her mouth, sucking on it.

"You know I would never leave like that again?," she asked him. Daryl didn't want to talk about that, he really didn't even like to think about it. That had been the worst time in his life. He hugged her tight, crushing her with his arms so hard she could barely breathe. When Daryl had gone out with the search party the day before, all he could think about was that they were going to be gone when he got back. "I'm sorry about what happened before," she whispered into his ear, kissing him softly behind it. She really meant it too, she had not been in her right mind when she had taken off like that. And she had dragged Merle into doing it with her and almost gotten them both killed. Alexandria was her home now, and no one was going to make her run. Daryl put his finger under her chin, tipping her face up so he could kiss her mouth. She smelled like mint.

RickyJo heard two short raps on the kitchen window and she yanked away, turning back to her garden. Jessica had tried to give her a little warning, but Merle had seen them anyway.

"Helping me keep her safe does not mean sucking her fucking face," he yelled at Daryl from the porch. RickyJo sighed and headed for the porch. She wrapped her arms around Merle's waist and rested her head on his shoulder. "Don't think you can butter me up," he told her, refusing to hug her back. Seeing her hugging Daryl didn't really make him as angry as he thought it should, but he still didn't like that shit.

"Fine," she told him, "go ahead and pout, see what that gets you." She let go of him and walked inside, letting her hips sway as she walked. Daryl watched his brother turn and chase after RickyJo into the house.

"What the hell does that mean?," he was calling after her. RickyJo knew Merle was going to make a grab for her and she darted out of his reach.

"Come 'ere," he told her.

"No," she said, "you don't want to give me a hug, then fuck you." She had a little grin on her face now, and she was backing up so she could put the couch beween them. Being cooped up in this damn house was making her restless and she felt like getting some of her energy out. Daryl walked back into the house and she almost knocked him over, running through the kitchen and into the dining room. She slid Bo Duke style across the dining room table on her ass, knocking over one of the chairs as she landed. He jumped back so Merle wouldn't run him over. Daryl was worried for RickyJo for only a second, until he saw they were both laughing. She used to play like this with his brother sometimes back when they had lived at her apartment in Atlanta. To get him going she would usually grab some of the pills he sold and say she was going to flush them. Then she would give him a good chase around the apartment, jumping over the beds and running up and down the fire escape to the roof. Thinking back, Daryl should have guessed then that there was a little more than friendly feelings going on between them.

RickyJo had her hair in a bun, so she knew he was going to have a hard time catching her. She ran around the dining table a few times, laughing at Merle when he got caught up on the chair she had knocked over. Then she took off back into the kitchen and gave Daryl a hard swat on the ass as she passed by him. Jessica was sitting at the kitchen table, sorting through some dandelions and putting the greens in a bowl to be washed and laughing at them. This was going to be some quality entertainment.

"Oh hell no," Daryl remarked, rubbing at his behind. RickyJo took off up the stairs at full speed, yelling at poor Morgan who happened to have the misfortune to be coming down them at the time. He flattened himself against the wall and let her through, wondering what the hell form of hillbilly courting was going on now. She darted into Cassie's room and hid in her closet. Merle waited for Morgan to come down and then took off after her, cursing. She was fucking hiding now, and it was going to take him forever to find her. Daryl saw Morgan looking up the stairs after them with some concern.

"Its fine," Daryl told him, "they are just playing around." Morgan laughed a little. Jessica like to make him catch her sometimes too, but she usually didn't try that hard to get away. RickyJo had legs like a fucking gazelle and she moved like one too. Morgan headed into the kitchen to help Jessica, while Daryl stood at the bottom of the stairs and waited. RickyJo wanted to smack his ass, she was going to get the business. He knew her games. She was hiding in on of the rooms near the top of the stairs. Once Merle went down to their room to look for her, she was going to take off out of whatever closet she was in and run back downstairs, then make him chase her around down here some more.

Once he had refused to chase her, saying he knew she wasn't doing shit with his pills, so she had taken one out of the bottle and swallowed it down. Daryl still had no idea what she had taken, but she had been high off her ass for the rest of the day. Merle couldn't let her get fucked up alone, so of course he had tossed a pill down his gullet and then forced one on Daryl. The three of them had smoked pot on the couch and laughed themselves silly. Daryl had gone out to get some food and when he came back they had her mattress dragged out onto the floor of the living room and they were laying on it watching The Little Mermaid. _We got my bed out because its bigger than yours, so there would be room for all of us._ RickyJo had been having so much fun, she had forgotten about some date she had with Laney and stood her up. The woman had showed up at the apartment furious. RickyJo hid in Daryl's room and Merle had answered the door and told Laney she wasn't home.

Merle was in the upstairs hall. Instead of trying to look for RickyJo, he decided to start yelling things out to try and get her to make some noise. Want to hear a dirty joke? A guy goes to the store to buy some condoms, and the cashier asks if he wants a bag. He says no, shes not that ugly. You know why Rick likes to fuck Beth in the shower? Slick her hair back she looks even younger. RickyJo stayed in the closet and clamped her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Why don't ni... black people like to go on cruises? Cause they already fell for that trick once. Merle listened and he swore he heard a giggle coming from their bedroom, so he took off like a bat out of hell down the hall. RickyJo got up and tried to get ready to run, but she was still laughing too hard. Morgan was downstairs too and probably heard all that. If he didn't already think they were all crazy before, now he must.

She took a few deep breaths and came out, peeking down the hall and making sure Merle wasn't close enough to grab her. She heard him cursing in their room. MJ had been in there making noise, not her. She got to the top of the stairs and waited for him to get a look at her before she ran. When he came out of their bedroom she lifted up her shirt to flash him and then took off down the steps. She was heading for the front door, to make him chase her around the outside of the house and then back in and around the table again. But she skidded to a stop on the last step, trying to decide between running back up and jumping the rail and taking off down the hall towards the kitchen. Her moment of indecision gave Daryl the chance to dart in a grab her by the waist. He flung her over his shoulder, holding her legs so she couldn't kick at him and then gave her a hard smack on her ass.

"You are a fucking cheater," she hollered, "this is not fair. Put me down right now!" There was a knock at the door. Rick had come over to get whoever was going out with him today to look for those men and check to make sure they were not too close to the town. Daryl swung the door open with RickyJo still over his shoulder. She craned her neck over, her face getting red from being upside down. Seeing who it was she started yelling again. "Good! I need the police, I am being assaulted!" Daryl smacked her again.

"Shuddup," he told her.

"Ouch," she yelped like it really hurt even though it didn't and she had wacked him a lot harder than that. Then she said a little more seriously, "this is making me sick to my stomach, I think you better put me down." He set her down quickly and she shoved him into Merle, who was standing behind him, then she darted out on the porch to hide behind Rick.

"That was a dirty fucking trick," Daryl informed her.

"You were being a cheater first," RickyJo said. She could tell Rick was looking uncomfortable so she decided to mess with him a little. "I think you better arrest him," she told Rick, "he touched me in my naughty place." Rick was not sure he wanted to be drawn into whatever game was going on over here, but he decided to go along with it for now. At least it was more fun that sitting around at his house watching everyone be miserable. He switched into full cop mode.

"Alright mham, which one of these men are you saying put his hands on you?," he asked her.

"Which one do you think?," she asked, pointing at Merle and Daryl in an accusatory fashion, "it was both of 'em." Rick was trying to keep a straight face, but that was more then even he could take he he gripped the frame of the door, laughing into his arm. He could hear Jessica and Morgan laughing in the kitchen. Then RickyJo tensed up, pressing her legs together and then took off running into the house.

"Out of my way, gotta pee," she announced. Daryl got out of her way quickly and she darted up the stairs for the bathroom. Rick gained control of himself, wiping the water out of his eyes.

"Okay, who is going with me?," Rick asked. He didn't need to explain where, they had already decided at that meeting that they needed to search the area surrounding the town every day. Daryl and Merle pointed at each other.

"He is," they both said in unison. Rick tried to supress another grin. The day before they had both been chomping at the bit to go with him, now suddenly they both wanted to stay here. It wasn't hard to figure out why.

Kim knelt down, picking another handful of beans and tossing them in the bucket she was sharing with Noah. It was a good thing Spencer thought to get the big buckets out of his garage, there was no way all this would fit into the mixing bowls they had taken from the kitchen. No one had been out here in a few days and the green beans and squash had gone crazy. Plus there were cherry tomatoes, peppers and onions and a lot of other stuff that Kim wasn't sure the names of.

At first, she had been afraid to be out here, even though they were still inside the walls. Every noise she heard made her jump out of her skin. But not she was starting to feel a little more relaxed. It was a nice day out and looking for food in the garden was actually kind of fun. Some people seemed to be doing more eating than gathering, especially Duane and Carl, who were over by the cherry tomatoes.

"Hey," Sammie yelled at them, "don't eat all those, RickyJo said if we got enough, she would make us puttanesca later." Kim winkled up her nose and spoke quietly to Noah.

"Whats a pooteska?," she asked.

"Italian for fancy spagetti," he told her. She smiled at him, which made his cheeks feel hot. "I think she puts anchovies and olives in it," Noah explained, "sounds weird but its really good."

"Anything is better than nothing," Kim remarked. Even when she had still been with her family, they had gone to bed hungry a lot since the beginning of the outbreak. And once she had been picked up by the wolves, they hadn't bothered to feed her much until Jared took an interest in her and even then they hadn't had a lot to go around. Unlike most of the people here, she knew how desperate those men were, and thats why she was sure they were coming back. The people here ate at least two square meals a day and usually found things to snack on for lunch too. And she was grateful, especially since she knew the baby that she thought was inside her needed food and vitamins to grow. She hadn't told anyone about the baby yet, but she was thinking about confiding in Sammie.

Sammie watched Kim. She had felt a little bad about talking her into coming out here when she had known she was afraid, but now she could see she had done the right thing. Kim was smiling with Noah and she had stopped jumping everytime the wind blew. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail except for the bangs Jessica had cut her to hide the cuts on her forehead, and they had found her some clothes that fit, which had been a bit of a challenge since she was tall and very very thin. But even just a few days of good eating had already put some color back into her cheeks. And it looked like Noah had a crush on her. He kept looking at her while they were working and then looking down, his face getting red. Guess the theory of Noah being gay had not been a very good one. Maybe he really was just polite. Kim noticed Sammie was watching her, so Sammie smiled and waved at her. Then she went back to her work.


	33. Chapter 33

The Wolves

It had been a little over a week now. And today they had found the last piece of the puzzle. Now the wolves just needed to wait for the cover of night. Derek was checking over the blades he wore on his fingers, and he saw that Dani was doing the same. Before they left, they would dip them in walker blood, to make sure that anyone who got so much as a scratch would die a terrible death. Jared was checking over the weapons, making sure they were all loaded and ready to go. He knew the most about guns, so he was usually in charge of them if they had any. The man they had tied up on the floor started making noise through his gag again, so Jared go up and kicked him.

"Don't make it so he can't walk," Derek warned him. Jared nodded. Then he leaned down.

"You don't need your teeth to walk, so if you want to hold on to them, you better shut the fuck up," Jared told him. The man shut up. He didn't need to worry, his pain would be over soon enough, Jared thought. He was still angry that the woman that had been with him had gotten away. She still would have had to die for their plan to work, but at least they could have got some use out of her first. And he was getting excited for what they were about to do. Soon he wouldn't need to worry about that stupid woman that had ran away in the woods, since he would have his woman back. She was better looking then that old cow they had seen today anyway.

They got geared up and put the rest of their things in the car they found. It was going to feel weird to ride in a car again, after so long. There was about a quarter of a tank of gas inside, so hopefully that would be enough to get them there. Derek had a handgun on his hip, along with a wicked looking hunting knife. He also had a rifle strapped to his back and those nasty looking claws on. Jared and Jon were geared up similarly, but without the claws. Dani usually only wore one claw on the pinky finger of each hand, but Jared saw she had changed this out and was wearing one full glove instead. She left the other one normal so she could drive the car with it.

They walked over to the back of one of the semi trailers. Derek and Jon opened the door just a little, and then Jared grabbed the first ugly that slithered out. They shut the door again and then Derek slashed the monster open. They all reached in, slathering themselves in the nasty gunk that was inside the thing. This way they could be sure the walkers would only go for the people they wanted them to go for, and not come after them. Jon started laughing. He pointed to the face of the walker.

"I remember this bitch," he said, "she was a begger, remember?" Derek looked at the now deceased woman. She wasn't ringing any bells. So Jon did a little imitation of her. "Please don't hurt me, I will give you anything you want. Take me back to my group and they will pay you." Derek laughed, now he remembered this stupid woman. She had been a real screamer. Squealing like a damn pig while they had her and then crying and begging them to let her go after. Derek had turned Dani loose on her and Dani had cut her up pretty good. _Theres no bargain you can make with us, the only thing we want is to watch you die._ Well come tomorrow, there would be plenty more where she came from.

It wasn't quite dark yet, but it was close enough. By the time they got to Alexandria it would be night. Jared had already sneaked back there once, so they knew that the group was keeping everyone inside at night, and only the person in the guard tower and the person on the door were out. Derek went and got the man they had tied up. He cut the bonds on his ankles, but left his hands tied. Then he walked him over and tied him to a rope that was attached to the back of the car. He cut the man's gag off. Then Jared and Jon grabbed the man while Derek carved his forehead up. He used his claws, so that shit had to burn. When he had done them, he had used a knife that he had held over a fire to sanitize it. It had still hurt like a bitch, but the cuts had not gotten infected.

Dani was already in the drivers seat, and she fired up the engine. Then Jared and Jon got the gates, opening them wide. She pulled out, the man being forced to walk behind the car or be dragged. He was yelling at them now. Things like _what kind of people are you_ and _what the hell do you plan to do with me._ Derek was pleased. The more that pig squealed, the better their plan would work. Then he walked past the man and climbed into the passenger seat. Jon and Jared got in the back. Jared tuned with the little remote he had and pressed the red button. All the semi trailers opened up and the dead started filing out.

Now the man behind the car was really screaming, pulling at the ropes and trying to get away. Dani started driving, going slow so the uglies would be able to follow them on foot. If they were lucky and the man screamed loud enough, they might be able to double their numbers on the way there. Driving at a steady pace, Dani kept the man out of the reach of the uglies, but close enough to keep them interested in following them. The man lasted about two thirds of the way there and then he fell. Dani just drove on, dragging his behind the car like a worm on a hook. It was for the best, they didn't want him still back there screaming when they got closer, someone might hear him.

"Turn off the lights," Derek told her, "we don't want them to see us coming." Dani did as she was told and they cruised up until they were just behind the hill. If they drove past this point and someone was in the bell tower, they would be spotted. Derek and Jared got out. This had to be quick, before the uglies got done feeding on the man behind the car and started wandering off. Derek and Jared went up the guard tower. There was a woman up there with short dark hair. Derek tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around, he cut her throat with his claws. She fell down with a thump. They heard someone calling from over by the gate.

"Francine?," the voice called, "are you alright, I thought I heard something..." The man came was so stupid, he left the gate open an inch and came right up to the top of the tower. Derek and Jared waited at the top for him and then gave him the same treatment they had given Francine. Then they ran down and pushed the gate open all the way. Derek got the flashlight out and turned it on, aiming it in the direction of the car and clicking the light on and off a few times. Then they waited. Then the thundering sound of many many people walking started to become more audible. Jared could feel it more than he could hear it. When the car got close, they jumped inside. Then, just like that, they headed into Alexandria with their army behind them. They had to wait for the light for the next part of their plan.


	34. Chapter 34

Alexandria

It was the very early morning. The time of day when its not really light out yet, but just feels not really as dark. RickyJo got up and tended to MJ, who had a wet diaper. Then she took him back to bed and snuggled him close, offering him her breast and hoping he would go back to sleep. The new thing he found exciting was to pinch Merle as hard as he could, which was actually pretty hard, considering how tiny his hands were. So she kept MJ on the edge side of the bed and put her back to Merle to separate them. Getting back into bed must have rustled him a little, because he mumbled something she couldn't understand and cuddled closer to her, rubbing his drowsy head into her hair. She closed her eyes, feeling secure in his arms, like she always did. She just meant to relax, since MJ was near the side of the bed. But with her arms wrapped around her son, and the body heat from his father on the other side, she was asleep before she could even think twice about it.

Daryl slept the hard sleep of someone that had been up most of the night. He had been thinking about what happened the day before, and pondering what his new relationship with RickyJo was and if he even actually had one. She had fed MJ lunch and then Jessica had happily offered to watch him a while. Jess and Morgan had taken him into the living room and moved the table so they could play ball with him. Of course he liked having the ball rolled to him, but he didn't want to let go of it to roll it to someone else. RickyJo could see her son would be fine without her for the time being, so she had let Daryl take her upstairs to bed. That part had been good, but then they had started arguing again. He wanted her to sleep the night with him and she had told him no. MJ liked waking up and seeing her and Merle in the morning, he was used to it. And now that he finally had some stability, she didn't want to confuse him. Daryl had gotten mad and said a few choice words to her that had kept him up most of the night, regretting it and telling himself he didn't regret it.

Morgan always woke up early. He was thinking about going out to have some coffee on the porch, since they had coffee now, and a porch. But Jessica caught him by the shirt and pulled him back into bed with her. They made the kind of gentle love that you could only make first thing in the morning when you were still just a little bit asleep. Then she had laid her head on his chest and they had talked for a while. About this town, their relationship, what they were going name the baby, and about the kids, they always talked about the kids. Cassie had a boyfriend now, a much older one, which made Jessica happy for her, but made Morgan worry. Jessica loved talking to Morgan, about anything. He was the only man she ever met that actually listened to her, instead of just waiting for his turn to talk.

Sammie woke up feeling nauseated. As soon as she lurched out of bed, she knew there was no way she was going to make it to the bathroom, so she grabbed for the big bowl they had been eating popcorn out of the night before and hurled into it. Then she sat back, feeling sweaty and gross, but at least not sick anymore. The noise woke Kim, who took one sniff of the liquids in the bowl and added the contents of her stomach to the mix as well. Sammie got up and opened the window, then tossed the contents of the bowl straight out into the yard.

"I hope no one was down there," Kim said, wiping at her mouth and grabbing the bottle of water she kept next to the bed to get a drink. Sammie laughed. If someone was down there, she hoped it was Carl, since it was his fault she was throwing up in the first place. She knew the sex had really been her idea, but that didn't mean he had to knock her up. And when his Carl's dad found out, she was pretty sure he was going to give birth to a small bovine animal. Oh well, whats done was done and its not like she could unfuck herself now. "Something you ate?," Kim asked her.

"More like something I didn't," Sammie said. Kim stared at her, not understanding the joke. Sammie guessed it had been more funny when she heard Jessica and RickyJo telling it. "You know," Sammie explained, "if I had sucked more dick I wouldn't be pregnant."

"Oh," Kim said. There was a long pause and then she started laughing. Sammie laughed with her, partly because the look on Kim's face when she finally got the joke was priceless. "You're pregnant?," Kim asked her. Sammie nodded. Kim could see that Sammie didn't really seem that worried about her predicament. "Is it Carl's?," Kim asked.

"Well it sure ain't Eugene's," Sammie said, making the other girl laugh again. Then she thought about a little piece of gossip she wasn't sure Kim knew. "You know RickyJo is pregnant too and she doesn't know who the dad is?" Kim nodded. She had already heard about that. People had been speculating on the situation and what was going to happen. Kim looked down, picking at a thread that was hanging off the edge of her pajama shorts.

"I don't know who the father of my baby is either," she said quietly. Sammie took a moment to digest this information. Kim had been talking to Noah a lot, but she was sure they had not had sex yet. Sammie didn't even think they had kissed yet. And that meant Kim's baby belonged to one of the men that had raped her. Sammie was on the floor next to Kim in a second, hugging her tightly. Kim hugged her back, grateful for the unexpected love and support.

"If you don't want to have it," Sammie told her, "I can talk to RickyJo for you. She used to be some kind of scientist, so I am sure she would know a way to get rid of it without hurting you." Kim thought about this for a minute. Planned Parenthood wasn't exactly opened for business these days, so she had not considered that possibility. It would be easier to forget what happened to her without a baby as a constant reminder. But then she thought about the baby, how thankful she had been for all the extra food these people had been giving her, and how she liked to think it was making her baby grow strong. And how even though she was scared, she had started to think about what she wanted to name it and if it would be a boy or a girl. Kim shook her head.

"I think I want to keep it," she said. Then she looked at Sammie to see her reaction. Sammie had always had a gift for knowing what people needed to hear. She never had to search for the right words to say, they just flew off her tounge.

"You know Beth and Jessica are having babies too," she said with some excitement. "That makes five of us. Jessica said her and RickyJo are getting matching outfits for their babies, maybe we can do that too." From Kim's expression, Sammie knew she had made the girl feel better. Kim didn't say anything, but she hugged Sammie close. For the first time in a long time, she felt hopeful again.

Maggie woke up. The first thing she thought about was Glen, turning to snuggle back in close to him. But her bed was empty. And this wasn't her bed. This was the extra bed in the girl's room where Michonne, Carol and Tara slept. She had been moved in here because people wanted to keep an eye on her, but she really didn't mind. Facing her old room that she had shared with Glen was really too much for her. She was thinking about asking Beth if she would clean it out for her and give it to someone else. Everyone looked like they were still asleep. Maggie tried to push it down, but the feelings started bubbling up inside her again and she turned to muffle her sobs into her pillow. She felt someone rubbing her back and then Michonne was shoving her over and lying down in bed with her. The woman never had a lot to say, and she didn't try to talk to Maggie now. She just rubbed her back and let her cry, offering the comfort of her presence. But that was enough, and with the warmth of another person next to her, Maggie found her tears finally stopped coming and she was able to sleep again.

Rosita woke up and padded on her soft sockie feet down the the bathroom. She didn't know if she had been drinking more than usual lately, but she felt like she had to pee every ten damn minutes. She wasn't sure what a urinary tract infection felt like, but she hoped she didn't have one. She absolutely refused to consider the other reason why she might be making such frequent bathroom trips. Baby having was not for her, that was for RickyJo and Beth and all those other silly girls. Not for her. She didn't even like to hold other people's babies. Once she had held that awful red haired one that Abraham was always smiling at and the kid had grabbed her tit and then peed on her. Nope. And she liked her ass and tits just the way they were, thank you very much. Heading back for the bedroom, she saw that Abraham was lying on his back with his arm over his face, pitching a tent under the sheet with his dick. What he dreamt about every night that got him that excited, she didn't know, but she hoped it was her. She thought about ignoring his massive boner, but then she changed her mind. Fuck it, she thought, I am probably already pregnant anyway. She yanked the sheets off him and hopped on.

Beth woke up to the sound of Judith cooing in her crib. She lay still, hoping she would go back to sleep. It was far too early to be up. And everyone was keeping their doors locked now, because of the wolves, so she was going to have to wake everyone in the house up next door so she could give Judith to RickyJo for a feeding. During the day, Judith was eating normal food, but RickyJo still nursed her in the morning and at night, and once in a while she did it in the afternoon, if Beth was having a hard time getting her down for a nap. RickyJo had offered to let Judith sleep next door with them, and if the door locking thing continued, Beth was thinking about taking her up on the offer. She would rather keep Judith close, but getting her fed every morning was just becoming too much of a hassle.

Beth got up and threw some clothes on. Judith saw her and was up on her feet, making little grabbing motions with her hands and chanting Ki-O, Ki-O, which was her name for RickyJo. Just hold yer dang horses a minute, I am taking you to her, Beth thought. Judith's chanting woke Rick and he sat up, asking Beth if she wanted him to take her. She told him no, she was already wide awake and half dressed. He reminded her that he had a key to the house, so she wouldn't have to pound on the door. It was on the top of the dresser. Beth took it and shoved it into the pocket of her shorts. Then she lifted Judith up into her arms.

"You want to go see Ki-O?," she asked her. Judith smiled a huge and very adorable baby smile.

"Ki-O," Judith said again.

"I will take that as a yes," Beth said, laughing. She smiled in at Rick from the doorway. "Don't go anywhere, I will be right back," she told him. He watched her disappear from sight and lay back, relaxing and thinking about Beth and what he would like to do to her when she got back. He knew the sounds of the house by now, and he heard her go down the stairs and then into the kitchen. The fridge opened, she was probably getting a drink of water, or maybe the mint tea RickyJo had given her to help with her upset stomach. Then he heard the backdoor open and close. And then he heard her screaming.

 **** I know it seems like everyone is pregnant, but I swear there is a method to my madness, and it will end up being very important to the story. As always, read, enjoy, review. ****


	35. Chapter 35

Alexandria and the Wolves

Beth had the lungs of a singer and when she screamed, it sent everyone fumbling and climing out of bed faster then any alarm system in the world. The back door had swung shut behind her and locked. She fumbled with the keys, dropping them and grabbing them back up, her fingers feeling like they were working about ten times slower then her brain. All the walkers that had been milling around behind the houses were coming straight for her, and not only did she not have her gun, she was holding Judith on the side of her that she kept her knife. Finally the key slid into the lock and the door swung open, slamming against the wall with such force that it left the imprint of the doorknob on the wall behind it.

When Rick hit the kitchen, gun drawn, he found Judith screaming on the kitchen floor and Beth shoving everything in the kitchen that would move against the back door. He pulled one of the chairs back and jammed it up under the doorknob. Then they both grabbed the table and tipped it up on its side, leaning it against the door to block the glass. One of the panes had aleady been broken out and the walkers were reaching inside, not caring that they were cutting themselves up on the glass.

"How many?," Rick asked her. Beth shook her head. It had been more than she could count.

"At least a dozen just in the backyard," she said. Then she moved quickly to pick up Judith and try to stop her from crying. The sound was only going to draw more walkers. Carl and Sammie appeared in the kitchen doorway, armed to the teeth. Sammie tossed Beth a gun. Then she ran to get a look out the front window.

RickyJo was only about halfway asleep when the screams from next door caused her to bolt straight out of bed. That sounded like Beth and Beth didn't scream for no reason. She set MJ in his playpen and shoved the window open. She pushed at the screen, letting it fall out of the window, where it slid down the roof and disappeared. Then she stuck her head out. Merle was right behind her, trying to get a look. Then their bedroom door flung open.

"Fucking walkers everywhere!," Daryl shouted. He had his crossbow and a large hunting knife. Merle pulled and shirt on and strapped on his arm piece, putting the knife onto the end of it. By the time he grabbed his gun, Morgan was also in the doorway with his walking stick and a gun on his hip.

"Go, go," RickyJo told them, "they are going to shove into the back door at Rick's house." The guys didn't wait, they took off down the stairs and out the back door. By the time they got outside, walkers were already falling where they stood. Daryl looked up and saw that RickyJo, Jessica and Cassie were out on the roof, shooting at them with their bows. They couldn't get a shot at the ones pushing in at the back door, since the roof on the back porch was blocking them. Daryl aimed for those ones first, hitting one in the head with and arrow and then getting his gun out. Morgan pushed the gun down. Gunfire would draw more of them back here. Instead Morgan got closer and started poking at the walkers on the porch with his stick.

"Hey hey hey," he called to them, trying to draw their attention away from the door. This worked and most of them turned and started down the steps after him. He got back, letting the girls take out as many as they could with their bows. The ones that got too close, the guys used their knives or Morgan's stick on. Abraham and Rosita came out of their back door with Michonne and Tara close behind them. In a few minutes they had the back yards clear. Daryl saw that the girls were climbing back into the house through the window. RickyJo looked at Desiree.

"You lock that window and the door behind us," she told her neice, "Stay quiet and don't open it for anyone but me." Desiree nodded. Then they all took off downstairs. Desiree shut the door, clicking the lock. Then she picked up her small cousin and took him into the closet to hide. RickyJo ran out onto the front porch, she looked around. The place was completely mobbed. There was only one way this many biters had been drawn in here. The wolves had to be back. Her horse was down the street, getting grabbed at by several walkers. She whistled long and loud for the animal. Hearing her gave it a burst of energy and it shook off the walkers and ran for her, not being shy about trampling the bushes. Everyone had come around from in back of the house and they were starting to organize themselves in the yard, drawing the walkers over and taking them out.

A group of people were fighting their way down the street. It was the group that had been staying at Deanna's house. When they had the meeting about what to do about the wolves, RickyJo had insisted that Deanna have some men stay with her as body guards. Deanna had not wanted to do it at first. But RickyJo had been very hard nosed on the subject. She thought if Deanna was going to shoulder the responsibilities of leadership, somtimes that meant accepting the perks as well. _If you die, your dreams for this town die with you._ Deanna had never been so glad as she was this morning that the men were there. Her house had been overrun and without those men there, she, Reg and both their sons would be dead. Her son Spencer had ahold of her arm, and Aiden was keeping close to Jessie and her sons, who had also been staying with her since Jessie's husband had died.

RickyJo waved her arm towards the group. The people with bows spread out on the street and started shooting at the walkers that were closing in on Deanna's people. She saw that Sammie and Carl had climbed out on the roof next door and were sniping at the walkers from above. Then Aiden fell, a bullet through his head. At first, Deanna thought maybe it was an accident, friendly fire as she knew some people called it. But when a man on the other side of her dropped, she knew it had been intentional. Rick and Merle were screaming, where was it coming from. Then they took of for a house down the street, with Abraham and Rosita close behind them. RickyJo knew whoever was aiming at the group was targetting Deanna. Kill the leader, kill the fight. It was a classic move. She also knew that there was a chance the leader of the wolves was still obsessed with her. For the first time, she hoped he was. Because that meant his men wouldn't fire if they thought they might hit her.

She moved without thinking, swinging up onto her horse, she rode hard at the small group, screaming for Deanna. Deanna saw her coming, thinking for a moment that she looked a little like the angel of death. But Deanna did not hesitate to run towards her, knowing this might be her only chance to get to safety. RickyJo gripped her firmly by the arm and swung Deanna up onto the horse behind her.

"Hold on," she warned her. Then she thundered down the street, trampling one walker and using the long machete she had to decapitate two more. Deanna gripped her waist, her life flashing before her eyes. RickyJo rode back, dropping her onto the steps of Rick's house and warning her to get inside. Then she heard Cassie screaming. Spencer was down, and holding back a walker that was on top of him trying to bite him. Cassie ran for him, forgetting her own safety. She stabbed the thing in the head and yanked it off him, grabbing Spencer by the arm and getting him onto his feet.

"Did it get you? Did it bite you?," she screamed. He shook his head and pulled her hard into his arms. And there in the middle of the fight, Cassie had her first kiss. It only lasted a second and then they were back to back, preparing for the next walker that would try and get close to them, but she would remember it for the rest of her life. Her mother had told her that she when she fell in love she would just know. There was no other way to explain it. At the time, Cassie had thought her mother had been feeding her a heaping steaming load of horse shit. But now, she understood all of it had been nothing but the one hundred percent truth.

Duane was close to them, using his gun since he was better with that than his bow. Rick and the rest of the people with him had kicked in the door of a house down the street. But Cassie could still see the sniper in the window. Another shot rang out and she saw that tall man that was on the construction team fall. It hit him in his neck, blood squirting everywhere, and he squeezed down on the trigger of his gun as he fell, firing wildly and screaming in pain. Most of the shots fired off harmlessly into the air, but when his elbow hit the pavement, the gun turned sideways and Cassie saw the side of Duane's head explode.

Morgan ran for his son. Cassie was on top of him, using Spencer's shirt to try and put pressure on the wound. Morgan scooped him up and Cassie ran with him, squeezing Duane's head between her hands to try and keep all his life's blood from running out onto the street. They burst into the infirmary. Bob was so drunk that the fighting had not even woken him. Morgan lay Duane on the table. Cassie held the blood soaked shirt hard on the side of his head while Spencer started flinging open cabinets, looking for anything that might help. Morgan grabbed Bob out of the chair and slapped him hard across the face. The man woke up, sputtering and swearing, spit flinging out of his mouth and into Morgan's face. Morgan shoved him towards the table. Seeing the blood was very sobering.

"What blood type is he?," Bob asked, wiping at his mouth.

"Doesn't matter," Spencer said, "I am O negative, a universal donor." Bob nodded and scrambled for the things he needed, not bothering to sanatize anything. He plugged an IV into Duane, telling Cassie to keep the pressure on. Then he hooked Spencer up. Soon the thin clear tube was filling with blood and flowing into Duane, keeping him alive.

Beth shoved Judith into Eugene's arms, watching him hold the baby in the most bumbling way possible. Just don't fucking drop her, Beth thought. He didn't. Then she darted out the front door to help with the fight. Deanna and Kim were in there with him, so Beth knew Judith would be alright. Eugene could tell that the new girl looked afraid. Maybe even more afraid than him, which was an unusual experience for Eugene.

"Its alright,"Eugene told the girl, "They will clear the walkers out and everyone will be fine." She didn't look convinced so he added, "seen them clear bigger herds than this, and with less guns too."

"I am not afraid of the walkers," Kim told him plainly, "I am afraid of the men that let them in here." Eugene stared at her. Walkers showed up all the time. He had not seen the sniper outside, and had not been thinking before now that someone had brought these walkers in on purpose. As if on cue, the sound of glass breaking came from the dining room.

"Both of you stay here," Deanna told them. She got her gun out, holding it the way Rick had showed her, and cursing herself again for being stupid enough to believe that people in this town shouldn't be carrying them. Kim watched her walk into the next room and vanish from view. A few seconds later there was a gunshot and then a loud thump. It made Eugene and Kim jump. Eugene held Judith tight in his arms now and started backing towards the stairs. Then a man he didn't recognize showed up in the doorway, a rifle strapped to his back, holding Deanna's gun. He was covered in dried blood, the streaks of it that ran across his face looked like some kind of crazed Halloween mask. He didn't see Eugene by the stairs, but he saw Kim. He smiled at her.

"Miss me honey," the man said, "come to take you back." Kim stood there, rooted to the spot. Her feet not running like she was telling them to do. She cleared her throat. "Something to say honey?," Jared asked her.

"I... I...," Kim stammered, "I am n... not going anywhere with you." Jared glared at her. What kind of shit had these people been teaching her. Sheep don't talk back to wolves. He crossed the room and grabbed her by the front of her shirt, slapping her hard across the face. She was grabbing his arm, trying to make him let go of her. He was tearing at her clothes now, and she started to cry. Eugene looked at them. He was coming to the realization that he was going to either have to fight this man, who was maybe bigger and certainly stronger than him, or watch Sammie's sweet little friend get raped in front of him. He set Judith on the stairs, willing her to stay put. Then a strange noise came out of his throat, which Kim would describe later as a cross between a parrot and a angry cow. He came barreling in, head down and did not stop until he felt himself collide bodily with the other man.

Eugene might not have been much of a fighter, but he was a hell of an eater and the weight of his body knocked the man to the ground with Eugene on top of him. Eugene pounded at the man's face with his eyes closed, the way small children somtimes pound on the ground during a temper tantrum. It took Jared a moment to recover, but then he was bringing his knee up hard into Eugene's side, knocking the wind out of him and flinging him onto his back. He punched the man hard in the face a few times and then pulled his knife out of the sheath on his side to finish him off. Deanna's gun had been knocked under the table during the struggle and Kim groped for it, feeling the hard metal in her hand. She braced her feet apart, the way Sammie had shown her and raised the gun, taking aim. Jared brought the knife up above his head, getting ready to bring it down into Eugene's face. And Kim fired at him. The first one whizzed by his side. But the next two both caught him straight through his chest. Blood gurgled out the side of his mouth and he fell down on top of Eugene.

Despite the horror of the situation, Kim couldn't help but laugh at the way Eugene was slapping at the now dead body, screaming like a girl and trying to get it off him. She grabbed the man by one arm and together they rolled him away so Eugene could get up. When he went to stand, Eugene found that one of his ankles wouldn't hold him. He must have twisted it in his stuggle with the man. He knelt down instead and took the knife the man had been planning to use on him. Plunging it into the man's brain, he made sure that he would be of no further trouble to them.

"Go check Deanna," he told Kim. She ran into the dining room.

"She's alright," Kim called to him, "he just hit her in the head." A few minutes later, they both appeared in the doorway, Kim helping Deanna to the couch. "Where's the baby?," Kim asked. Eugene felt a sudden moment of panic. He had forgotten about the baby. Leaping up despite his ankle, he hobbled over to the steps. Judith was laid out across the steps, unconcious. One of the bullets that Kim had fired had grazed her scalp. It had not been close enough to make her bleed, but these was a red mark and the hair was gone in that spot. Kim ran over and picked her up, which woke the small girl. She felt the side of her head, Kim guessed it must hurt a little. Then she reached for Eugene. Kim laughed and handed her over.

"Guess we are friends now?," Eugene asked Judith.

"Ki-O," she demanded. Eugene had no idea what that meant, but he figured if she was talking, that meant that she was going to be fine.

Merle was right behind Rick when he kicked in the door of the house. They ran up the stairs and into the front bedroom. The man that had been sniping at them was still in the window. The fucking idiot hadn't even heard them because he had his ears stuffed with cotton so the sound of the gun wouldn't be so loud. Rick looked at Merle, who was giving him what he thought was the most evil grin he had ever seen in his life. They ran up on the man, dragging him out of the open window by the feet. Rick took his gun and then they started kicking him and stomping on him. Rosita and Abraham showed up in the doorway.

"Damn," she excalimed, "you couldn't leave me a piece?" Merle backed up, giving her a little bow. She walked over and kicked the man hard in the nuts.

"Mother dick," Abraham declared from the doorway. Not for the first time, he was glad his woman's hellcat anger wasn't directed at him. Then she walked around near the man's head. Holding her leg by the toes of her foot, she lifted it up in the air, yoga pose style and then swung it down full force, driving her heel into the man's face. Merle muttered a few choice words, trying to decided if he was really scared or really turned on. Then Abraham came in. He picked the man up by the collar of his shirt and the waist of his pants. Then he launched him straight out the window where he splattered all over the pavement below. Rosita hollered out the window after the man.

"And thats what you get, pedaso de mierda!," she yelled, "Tienes un pito chiquito!" Merle started laughing, since he was the only one that had understood her. It pretty much broke down to the man was a piece of shit with a tiny little dick. Then they took of back downstairs and out onto the street to help clear the rest of the walkers. Rick and Rosita ran over to the gate and shut it, so at least no more walkers could get in. Then they went back to getting rid of the ones that were already inside.

Except when she took off on the horse, Daryl had been tryng to keep close to RickyJo. She and Jessica were working as a team now, kicking the walkers knees out and stomping on them, then stabbing them in the head. All the ones close to them were dead, so RickyJo stepped back and took an elastic band out of her pocket to tie her hair back out of her face. That's when Daryl heard his brother screaming from down the street.

"RickyJo!," Merle screamed, "behind you." He could see her coming, a deranged woman with some kind of knives attached to her fingers. There was no time for Daryl to load an arrow. The only thing he could do was bolt for RickyJo, grabbing her and putting his body in between her and the crazy woman. He felt a hot buning pain as the razors on her hands raked through his shirt and down his back. The woman fell back onto the ground, tackled by a man that was wearing a similar knife glove, but on both hands. They were rolling around, clawing at each other and screaming. Merle made it over from down the street. Everyone was standing there, watching the two lunatics go at it. He cocked his gun and fired off two shots, hitting each one of them through the head and dropping them to the ground.

"My fucking back feels like its on fire," Daryl said, pulling at his shirt and trying to get a look at his own injuries. Merle kicked at the man and woman on the ground, poking at the claws they were wearing with his own prosthetic.

"No!," he said, "fucking goddamn it." He looked at his brother and then at RickyJo. "Their claws are all covered in walker blood."


	36. Epilogue

Daryl woke up feeling sore and weak. He wondered if this was what being a walker felt like, because so far he mostly just felt like himself only shittier. His back felt sore and tender, like even the pressure of a bedsheet might be too much to bear. He blinked his eyes a few times, letting them adjust to the dim light inside the room. He was on a cot in the infirmary. His brother and RickyJo were sleeping on the cot next to him, looking dead to the world. She had her head on Merle's chest and one leg and arm draped over him. His brother was lying on his back, one arm dangling off the side of the cot and his bad arm wrapped around RickyJo. He wasn't wearing his arm piece and Daryl could see the red angry flesh on the stump of his wrist. It was something no one usually got a look at, and Daryl felt strange, like he was seeing the man naked and exposed.

Pushing up with his arms, Daryl lifted his head to look around the rest of the room. On the next cot down, Duane was sleeping, tubes running into his arms and his head wrapped in a bundle of white gauze. Rosita was passed out on the last, her boots on and laced, using her arm as a pillow. Bob was sitting in a chair next to Duane, and it looked like he had also succumbed to exhaustion as well. He was slumped down in the chair with his head tipped back, snorring softly. In a plush easy chair that someone must have dragged in here, Morgan was against the wall, his eyes were closed. Cassie was curled up in his lap sleeping, like she was a small child again instead of a young woman.

Daryl moved a little, trying to find a more comfortable position, and he let out a small groan from the pain. Morgan's eyes fluttered open and when he saw Daryl was awake he smiled.

"How do you feel," Morgan asked him quietly.

"Guess 'bout as good as I look," Daryl told him, "I got scratched, didn't I?" Morgan nodded. Daryl was really starting to wonder now, about how it was that he was still alive.

"RickyJo had a theory," Morgan told him, "she said the virus is inside us all already, so contact with it is not what kills you. She said its the fever. She decided if they could keep your fever down long enough for your body to fight the infection, you might make it." Daryl looked over at her and smiled.

"She looks tired," he said.

"I don't think she slept for two days," Morgan told him, he gestured towards RickyJo and Merle "your fever finally broke around five this morning and then they finally passed out. They were rubbing you with ice and putting cold rags on you, cooling your body down from the outside." Daryl had a vague memory of felling cold and shivery, like the time his dad had took off without paying the heating bill and he had to keep warm by piling under all the blankets in the house. Daryl noticed MJ was missing, it seemed off to see RickyJo without her small son clinging to her.

"MJ alright?," he asked. Morgan nodded again.

"Jess took him and Des home with her so they could get some sleep," Morgan said, "they are all fine." Daryl leaned up to get a look at Morgan's son.

"Hows your boy?," he asked. Morgan's face tensed up and for a minute, Daryl thought he might cry.

"He's not dead yet," Morgan said, trying to sound more hopeful than he felt. Losing Duane now, after all they had been through would be more than he could take. But he knew that even if the boy woke, he was going to be permanently disfigured. He had lost an eye and probably the hearing in the ear on that side of his head. There was no telling until he woke up if he was going to have brain damage or not.

"He's a tough little sumabitch," Daryl said, "he'll be alright." Morgan smiled softly at his son. He was a tough little bastard. Maybe he would be able to pull through this. "Anyone else?," Daryl asked. Morgan shook his head. There had been a aprained ankle, and few scrapes and bruises, and Sammie had gotten a pretty good knot on the head, but everyone was fine. The other losses had been people that had been in Alexandria before they got there. Deanna had held a small funeral for them the day before.

The soft conversation woke Merle up, and he rubbed at his eyes, trying to be still so he wouldn't wake RickyJo. He had tried to talk her into going home with Jessica and getting some sleep in a real bed, but like the stubborn mule of a woman she was, she had adamantly refused to step even one foot out of the infirmary until she knew that Daryl was alright. He had finally just pulled her out of the chair by Daryl's bedside and into the cot with him, rubbing her back for the few seconds it took her to fall asleep. They were all dog tired and drained, but being pregnant put even more of a physical strain on her. He wouldn't be surprised if she slept through the entire day and maybe into the night.

"Hey there lil' brother," Merle said, "welcome back to the land of the living." He reached his hand out to cross the space between the cots and Daryl reached his over to grab it. They held on for a little longer than manly etiquette would allow and then let go. Merle pulled his hand back and wiped a strand of RickyJo's hair out of his face, spitting a little since some of it had gotten into his mouth. Looking at her brought back the issues that had been forgotten while they were tying to save Daryl's life. "What 'er we gonna about this trouble maker here?," Merle asked his brother, stroking RickyJo's hair in a way that suggested she was many things to him other than a pain in the ass. For the first time Daryl was able to look at them and not feel the bitterness and jealousy swelling inside him. He remembered the words he had heard Jessica tell Cassie back when she was just a little squirt and had been jealous of her new baby sister. _I don't have a limited amount of love, and giving love to the new baby doesn't mean I love you any less._ RickyJo had always been passionate about everything in her life. Maybe she just had more love to hand out than one person could take.

"All the time I've known her," Daryl admitted, "I ain't never known what to do with her. And I sure as hell got no idea where to start now." Merle started laughing, trying not to laugh too hard, since he didn't want to wake RickyJo by jostling her around. He had never had a fucking clue what to do with her either. He wasn't sure what she even was to him anymore, his wife, his lover, the mother of his children, the only person he knew that wasn't afraid to call him out on his bullshit, or maybe even his friend. And he knew if it wasn't for Daryl, she would be dead. Keeping her alive was turning into a full time job and for the first time, Merle was starting to understand that having some help doing it wouldn't be the worst thing he could think of.

The End


	37. Preview of The Heart of Dixie

**The Heart of Dixie**

 **This is a preview chapter. You can find the rest of it in the story The Heart of Dixie.**

Dixie

Today was her fifteenth birthday. She had woken up to find a small present next to her bedside. It was a beautiful gold necklace that one of her fathers had given to her mother years ago. Dixie reached up to her throat to feel for it, making sure it was still there. The real party would come next month when they all celebrated together. People called them the Alexandria Seven or sometimes the New Start Babies. They had all been born within months of each other shortly after the final battle with the Wolves and each child had been named after a loved one that had passed away. The celebration of their births was really a celebration of hope and new beginnings for the whole community. When she was born her mother had given her a whopper mouthful of a name, Dolores Augustine after both of her grandparents. But for as long as she could remember everyone had just called her Dixie. There was a story her parents liked to tell her about how she got the nickname, and it was a favorite of everyone in the family.

As her mother explained it, her older brother MJ had always been a difficult child when he was young. He had not taken kindly to having to share his mother's time and affection with a younger sibling. MJ always smiled big during that part of the story, like he was proud of being a brat. And no matter how her mother tried to teach him to be nice, he set out on a mission to torture and destroy his sister as soon as she learned how to crawl. Dixie was too young to remember any of this. As long as she knew her older brother had been her friend and protector. But her mother told that didn't happen until she was about two years old and she had finally stood up to him. MJ had taken whatever toy she was playing with and given her a hard pinch on the arm. Her daddy Daryl told her that he had seen the determined look on her face, the same one her mother got when someone was about to get their ass handed to them. When RickyJo moved to correct the situation and scold her brother, Daryl held her back. Dixie had picked up a doll with a hard plastic head and walked over to where her brother was playing with his stolen prize, his back turned to her. She had knocked him to the ground with a forceful blow to the head, swinging the doll by the feet. Then she had taken her toy back and aimed carefully with her tiny foot in its pink leather shoe to give her brother a hard kick in the rump. Her mother had started laughing and both her fathers had been clapping. Daddy Merle had leaned over MJ and told him, "that's what happens when you mess with a lady Dixon." And thus her nickname was born.

Dixie looked around to make sure no one was watching her and then poked into the straw of the hen house with a long stick. Sometimes snakes liked to hide in there, to eat the eggs and even the chickens if they were big enough, and Dixie hated snakes more than any other creature on earth. But she knew if her cousin Jenny saw her poking around in there like a real scare baby, she would laugh at her. The two girls were actually second cousins, but they had grown up in the same house and their mothers had raised them up more like sisters, just like their Nana had done for them all those years ago. Jenny's birthday had been about two weeks ago. And the next one after hers was Hershel, the only boy out of the seven. His was not for about another two weeks though.

Just thinking about snakes made her skin crawl and she tried to take the memory of what happened the week before and push it down. She had to have imagined it anyway, there was no way it could have been real. Walkers just didn't do things like that.

A small group of people had gone outside the wall to do some foraging in the woods. Dixie had gotten a little further away from the group than she should have, but she had seen a big patch of dandelions and wanted to pick them. Her Daddy Merle made wine with them and if there was some left, her mom sometimes made jelly out of them too. She had been picking and picking, filling up her whole bucket with the small yellow flowers. Then she had seen the walker. They didn't come in big herds anymore like they used to when she was little, but seeing one wasn't exactly a novelty. The only thing unusual about its outward appearance was that it had a large smear of some kind of reddish orange powder across its forehead. It was what it did that scared her.

The thing came toward her, and unlike most, the way it was walking seemed more purposeful. She got her knife out, waiting for it to get close. But when it was a few feet away, it stopped and stood there staring at her. She could feel the hair on her arms stand up and the sweat was pouring down her back and into her pants, wetting the waistband. Then the thing leaned down and picked up a garter snake. Its arms moved with strange jerking motions, like a puppet on strings. It held the snake up, looking into its face, then it turned and hurled the snake at her. She had screamed like crazy and smacked the snake away, and then the walker was coming at her, its face twisted up into a terrible goulish grin. Her brother had heard her scream and come running, firing an arrow at the monster and dropping it instantly.

"You okay?," he asked her. She had thrown herself into his arms, her body shaking. When she looked, the snake was gone. Her brother held her at arms length. "You are really too old to be screaming like that over one freakin' biter Dixie," he told her, "next time just stab them in the head like I showed you." Dixie nodded. She did not say anything to him about what she had seen. If she had she was sure he would think she had gone totally fruity. She really didn't even want to admit to herself what she had seen, but she had been waking up in the night drenched in sweat from the nightmares.

She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts of the strange walker out of it and headed to the next hen house, using her stick again to check for snakes. Then it was off to collect the eggs from the ducks, geese and turkeys and make sure all the birds got fed. There was a new batch of baby ducklings, and she watched them spash around in the water she poured in the small tub for them. They were so cute, it was easy to watch them and put the thoughts of the strange walker out of her mind. She piled up some rocks and sticks at one end of the pool to make sure the ducklings would be able to climb out easily. Her smile faded when she noticed a suspicious pile of feathers outside the small house that served as the sleeping place for her ducks. Dixie walked around behind the small gated area and started swearing. Something had gotten another one of the ducks. The last time it had been a small pack of coyotes that had burrowed under the wall. But coyotes usually consumed the entire animal, and they usually heard them in the night. Whatever animal did this had only bitten off the head of the duck, and left the rest behind. And it had also been quiet. For now she would keep an eye out, but if it happened again, she would have to get her brother. Last time they sat up all night and then picked those asshole coyotes off one by one. A few got away but they had not been stupid enough to come back.

Dixie heard her brother's voice coming from the other side of the yard. He and her mother had gone out hunting early that morning, and it looked like they had been lucky. They walked in, a good sized deer swinging from a long pole they were supporting between them on their shoulders. Her brother was so tall now, bigger than both of her fathers. His red hair was cut short for the summer, but he had grown some of his facial hair into a small goatee. His arms were thick from work and his shoulders were broad. She knew plenty of the girls in town had crushes on him. But so far he had shown no preference for anyone in particular. He came towards her, his hand behind his back, hiding something. When he got close, he hugged his sister close and held out a flower he had found for her in the woods.

"Happy birthday," he told her, "Uncle Daryl told me it was a cherokee rose." The flower was white with a yellow center. Dixie held it to her nose, breathing in the sweet smell of it. Then she tucked it behind her ear. "I was going to give it to Judith," her brother teased, "but since I know no other boy was going to give you flowers for your birthday, I figured I would take pity on you." Dixie laughed and smacked at him. They wrestled with each other a little until their mother yelled at them that they better quit before they scared the chickens. Dixie picked the flower up from where it fell and tucked it back behind her ear.

By the time she got there, people were already in the bar talking and laughing. The formal announcement was going to be at the birthday party, but Hershel had already told everyone the results of the very first public election the night before on the radio. Close friends and family were coming in for a celebration breakfast at her mother's bar. The bar was where almost everything in the town was celebrated. Her mother told her often that was why she had pushed so hard to get the place built and opened. Her mother had never formally taken a leadership position in the town, but her opinion always carried weight. And she said running the bar helped her keep her finger on the heartbeat of the town. She was always the first to know anything that was going on, and Dixie knew Deanna had considered her a close and trusted advisor. Since the place had first opened up all those years ago, it had been expanded several times and now also served as a hotel and boarding house for people visiting from other communities, people that had not found a permanent place to live yet, and the last few years it had been host to more and more men that had come to Alexandria looking for a wives.

Dixie had never been to any other towns except Hilltop, but she had heard that in most places, the men outnumbered the women sometimes even close to ten to one. Too many women had died during the first few years after the outbreak. When people came to Alexandria, they were always shocked to see how many women and young people there were. At last count, the girls actually outnumbered the boys here. And little by little, the word had gotten out and then the men had started showing up. Women here had to start wearing wedding rings again, something many of them had not done in all the time that they had been married. Most women had one, but Dixie's mother had two of them. Sometimes she wore one on each hand, and sometimes she kept them on a silver chain around her neck. One was a gold ring with a big flashy diamond and the other was a thin silver band that didn't look like much at first but when you looked closer, had a beautiful celtic design engraved on it. Sometimes she let Dixie try them on and look at them. Like her mother, she could never decided which one she liked best.

Since so many people in her community had lost parents, and many lived in multiple family homes, Dixie was quite old before she realized that having two fathers was rather unique. Lots of kids had a dead father and a new stepfather, but that was different. She had two fathers that were still alive and her mother shared a room with both of them. Dixie's mother told her that at the beginning it had been a bit of a scandal. When her mother said the word scandal, it was always with a wicked little grin. But like everything else, people had gotten used to it and her marriage had eventually ceased to be a novelty.

The smell in the kitchen made Dixie's mouth start watering before she even hit the door. Her Aunt Jessica and her mother had two huge cast iron skillets out on the stove and they were frying up corned venison hash with peppers and shallots from the garden. Once it was crispy and even a little brown around the edges, they portioned it out onto bug serving plates and used the skillets to fry up the eggs that Dixie had collected. They did the eggs overeasy, so when you cut in, the yolk soaked into the fried potatoes. This was Carl's favorite meal and since this was his celebration, the women had been sure to make it for him. Dixie grabbed the big colander from the sink that was full of freshly rinsed strawberries and started hulling them, tossing the tops into the bin that would be taken out to the compost later and putting the juicy red berries into a bowl. She tossed one into her mouth, trying not to let the juice on her fingers stain her lips. They were halfway through strawberry season and the rest of what they picked would probably be dried, frozen or made into jam or preserves and canned.

Jenny came into the kitchen, carrying a large bucket of milk, followed by one of the boarders that was staying at the bar. The people that stayed at the boarding house could trade in exchange for staying there, but most earned their keep by working in the gardens and helping to take care of the animals. The man was also carrying a large bucket of fresh milk, which he was looking like he might spill since he was so busy staring at Jenny's ample backside. When he saw Dixie, the man had a smile for her as well and she quickly ignored him and turned back to her berries. Her mother had warned her to stay away from those boarding house men. Not because they were bad men, but because she didn't want any of them convincing her daughter to go away and live with them in some other town. Most of them seemed too old for her anyway, not that they thought so. Jenny, on the other hand, was giggling away with the man. She was lucky her dad didn't see her. Uncle Morgan thought his daughter was far too young to date and if he ever found out even half of the things she had done, it was going to turn his hair even whiter than it already was.

RickyJo shooed the man out of the kitchen and into the main bar room, trying to hide a grin. Many men had been sucessful in getting between her neice's legs, but like Jessica before she had met Morgan, none of them had managed to make a lasting impression on her heart. And it sure wasn't from lack of trying. Jenny had received more jewelery, flowers, clothes and gifts than she could shake a stick at. One man had even given her a tiny white kitten than he had caught outside the walls. The way she went through those men was astonishing to RickyJo. What her neice needed was to find a man that would go through her, maybe even break her heart a little. Teach her that people's feelings were not to be so easily discarded.

MJ came into the kitchen. He was the only boy that didn't seem to feel like his manhood was being put into question just by stepping inside. He also still hugged and kissed his mother and didn't care who saw him. Dixie knew it was because if anyone wanted to talk any shit to him, he would find them later and pound them good.

"You want to get the iced tea out?," her mother asked her brother. He nodded. They brewed tea in big two or three gallon glass jars, so getting them out of the fridge and pouring them into more manageable sized pitchers for serving without dropping them or spilling the tea everywhere wasn't exactly a girly job. He had actually come in to see if his mother needed help with this specific task.

"You want me to take some cider out too?," he asked. There were so many apple trees in Alexandria, apple cider was a main staple in most people's diets. They drank it fresh, lightly fermented, hard and even sparkling. They also traded the apples with Hilltop, where there were peach, apricot and orange trees. Today the stuff in the fridge looked like the lightly alcoholic stuff, but MJ made sure to get himself a good swig to be sure. _Quality Control._ His father and his uncle Daryl brewed it, and sometimes he helped him. Helping meant sampling, and sampling was fun. They also made wine, moonshine and about a million different kinds of beer.

"And take your father that bottle of dark beer I put in the fridge for him," his mother told him. MJ smiled when he saw there were two bottles, which meant the other one was for him. Since it wasn't something most people enjoyed, they didn't brew dark stout often, but he just loved the bitter earthy taste of it. He knew his dad liked it too and usually referred to the lighter beers and cider as 'piss water'. MJ noticed that didn't keep the man from drinking the stuff, and sometimes too much of it. This was sometimes funny, and other times ended badly, with his mother and his Uncle Daryl fighting with his father.

Dixie finished with the berries and helped her brother to carry out the drinks. Along with the tea and cider, they also had plain water and even a few bottles of ginger beer, which was her favorite. As she set the pitcher of tea up on the bar top, she heard Hershel's voice coming in over the radio. _This is Hershel Grimes, broadcasting to you from the top of the bell tower, playing your favorite old world music..._ Then some music started coming in over the radio. People in Alexandria loved the radio station. It was tradition for most people to turn on their radios when they were heading home from runs or trading missions. When they heard the music start coming in, they knew they were almost home.

Jenny came in with the strawberries, setting them on the top of the bar, and then RickyJo and Jessica came out with the big platters and set them down. Carl let go of his wife's waist and headed over behind the bar, giving each woman a warm hug and thanking them. He knew this meal had taken some preparation, especially the corned venison, which took a week just to brine.

"What were you going to do with all this if I didn't win?," he asked them playfully. RickyJo gave him a big grin.

"Feed it to Spencer instead," she told him. This made them all laugh and Carl swatted at the woman playfully. He still thought she was the most attractive woman in town, except for his wife of course. And the long streaks of white hair that had grown in around her face were actually very lovely and dramatic against her tan skin. He never questioned why Daryl and Merle liked her so much. To Carl the reasons were plain enough. He knew Deanna had thought of RickyJo as one of the people she trusted most, and he hoped she planned to stay on in that position and advise him. In fact, he had been thinking of setting up a more formal council, like the one Hershel had been the head of back at the prison all those years ago. He couldn't be everywhere at once and the town was only getting larger every year. But that could wait until after his party.

Dixie was helping her mother, trying to make sure everyone had a full glass so they could make a toast. She was surprised to see Spencer come in, but she offered him a drink. He accepted it gratefully and took a large gulp before crossing the room to where Carl was standing. Spencer's mother had been grooming him for years to take over for her and run the town after she passed away. He knew people wanted to have a vote, but he had thought it was just a formality. When he had lost by a landslide to Carl, who was much younger and less experienced than him, he had been shocked and upset.

"I just wanted to say congratulations," Spencer told the man, sticking his hand out. Carl took it and shook it with real feeling. He knew it had been hard for Spencer to come here.

"I want to set up a council to help me with the running of the town," Carl told him, "I was hoping you would be willing to be a part of it." The offer touched Spencer, and from his expression, Carl knew he had done the right thing. Like RickyJo, Spencer had been helping Deanna run the town for years, and when she had gotten sick there towards the end, he had pretty much been doing it for her. Carl wanted him as a partner, not an adversary. Dixie watched the two men. Spencer was married to one of her cousins, so he was family. She had been sad for him when he lost the election to Carl, even though she thought Carl would make the better leader.

Rick tapped his ring against his glass, getting everyone's attention. He had his arm around Beth, who was sipping a glass if iced tea. She would have rather had a real drink, but she was pregnant. Again. Dixie darted over to stand by her Daddy Merle, leaning close to he could wrap his arm around her shoulders. Merle was watching Rick, the long winded fucker had better make this one quick, because he was starving.

"I will make this quick," Rick said, and then laughed when he heard a few dramatic sighs of relief. "I just wanted to say congratulations to my son Carl, the new leader of Alexandria." People started cheering and clapping.

"As my first act as leader I say its time to eat!," Carl hollered out. This brought on some more clapping and laughter.

"See I knew I voted for him for a fucking reason," Merle told his daughter, making her smile. She was the spitting image of her mother when she had been that age, especially when she smiled. And like her mother, she seemed to take no notice at all on the effect she had on the men around her. Even now, Rick's kid that ran the radio station was hovering in the doorway, staring at her. And she didn't even blink in his direction. The day she was born, she had been so quiet, they thought something was wrong with her. But when Rosita had turned her over, she had been staring up at all of them with her big blue eyes like she wondered what they were all looking at. She had not said a word until she was two and a half and then one day she had just started talking to all of them in complete sentences. That was just her way. She could never be made to do something she wasn't ready to do. Daryl was fond of saying that she had her mother's backbone, and Merle had to agree. It was a nice way of saying they both had a stubborn streak a mile wide.

MJ came over with a plate that he had elbowed in and filled up with as much food as it would hold, then started shoveling it in like it was his last meal. Dixie laughed at him. If he made love the way he ate she felt sorry for any girlfriend he ever got. She was about to inform him of his bad manners when there was a loud crash by the door. Maggie had come in with her daughter and the girl had tripped over who knows what, likely her own feet, and fallen into a chair knocking it over.

"Glenna Rhee," Merle said, elbowing MJ in the ribs.

"The Rhee stands for Rhee-tard," MJ quipped. Dixie rolled her eyes while the two of them laughed like hyenas. She had heard them make that joke so many times, she still had no idea why it had been so funny in the first place. It wasn't Glenna's fault that she was clumsy and awkward. Dixie knew who the real retards were, and she was thinking about telling them off. She knew it would just make them think the joke was even funnier, so she walked away from her father and brother instead.

Dixie ducked through the crowd, heading over to make sure Glenna was okay. When she got there, she saw that Hershel was already checking on her. He looked at Dixie funny and then his face started getting all red like he was the one that fell into the chair instead of Glenna.

"Don't worry Glenna," Dixie said, "my dad and my brother are both getting drunk so I'm sure I will be way more embarrassed than you real soon." This made Glenna smile and Hershel walked with her over to get something to eat and say horray to his brother Carl. Dixie followed them, getting a plate of food for herself. Then she spotted her mother and Daddy Daryl sitting in a booth, eating together. They were sitting next to each other, so she took the other side. Her mother saw she had nothing to drink and handed her the rest of her ginger beer. Dixie did not hesitate to take it and sipped it slowly to savor the spicy taste. They grew ginger in the garden and one of her favorite thing in the world to smell was the fresh roots when they pulled them out of the dirt and peeled them.

Her Daddy Daryl had his hand on her mother's leg under the table. From the time she was little, Dixie loved watching the two of them together. Her Aunt Jess had told Dixie that Daryl was the first man her mother had ever slept with. She had asked her mother about it later, but had been unable to get much out of her _. You don't want to hear about all that mess, honey._ She didn't think her mother liked talking about her life in the old world. Maybe it dragged up too many painful memories for her. Or maybe she had thought Dixie was too young at the time to hear about it.

"You girls making cheese today?," Daryl asked them. RickyJo nodded. Once the party cleared out, she had some things she needed to get done. Bread needed to be baked and they also needed to start getting things ready for the party next month. Last year so many people came that they had to set up tents for them to sleep in. And this year they were expecting even more.

"Why, you want to help?," RickyJo teased him, taking a piece of her hair and tickling his face with it.

"Nah but I might keep you comp'ny while I do up the dandelion wine," he answered, swatting at her hair and tickling her ribs under the table. Then he pulled her close and kissed her neck. Dixie blinked and suddenly she was seeing them laying on the table dead. The bar was empty and the windows were full of the dark bodies of walkers, coming for her. She opened her eyes again and let go of the table. She had been gripping it so hard it left red marks on her hands.

"You alright honey?," her mother asked her. Dixie nodded and took another swig of the ginger beer to wash the taste of death out of her mouth. She was fine, just losing her damn mind is all. Nothing to be concerned about.

 **** If you watch Defiance, there was a little nod to that show that I hope you caught. And if you don't watch it, you should start because it is a freaking great show. As always read, enjoy and review. I own nothing from the Walking Dead, only my own original characters. ****


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